August Giveaway: "Tea Parties Around the World"

Boy, do I have a great August giveaway item for one of you—it's a hot-off-the-presses copy of Hoffman Media's latest book from Tea Time magazine, Tea Parties Around the World.

Like many of you, I love to collect these tea-themed books from Hoffman, and their newest one is such a visual feast with all of its wonderful recipes from countries around the world. From the chapter on Scotland, we have some Raspberry-Oat Tartlets with Whiskey-Honey Cream.

And if you love Russian porcelain, there are images like this one to whet your appetite!

And in the chapter on the Netherlands, you'll find recipes for these Speculaas Teapot Cookies, Oliebollen (Chocolate Doughnut Balls), and those pretty Tompões with Pink Glaze and Vanilla Pastry Cream. Other countries with recipes featured in the book include Australia, China, France, India, Japan, Morocco, and South Africa.

If you'd like to win a copy of this book for yourself, just leave an "Enter me" to this post by 7 a.m. on Monday, August 13, 2018, *making sure you've provided an email address so I can get in touch with you if you're the winner*, and you'll be entered to win. Hoffman Media says they will mail the book directly to the winner, and they are kindly offering to send it internationally as well, so everyone is welcome to enter this giveaway. Good luck, and thank you, Hoffman Media, for sharing this gorgeous new book!

Tea Room Recipe #52 - Chelsea's and The Village Tea Room (Asheville, N.C.)

I know what you're thinking: "I didn't eat enough sweets over Christmas, and wow, I sure do wish someone would share just ONE MORE rich, sugary dessert for me to make!" Well, friends, here you go, a deliciously rich new treat, Cranberry Raisin Bars.

As I end this year of trying tea room cookbook recipes, it's nice that the 1996 cookbook I used, "In Chelsea's Kitchen," is from a tea room I actually visited before it closed earlier this year, Chelsea's in Asheville, N.C. I visited Chelsea's once with my husband several years back, and once with some tea blogger friends in 2012. Both times I just loved Chelsea's, and I was sorry to hear it closed but happy I have a book of their recipes to enjoy!

It'll be Salad City around here in another week or so, but until then I'm still in holiday baking mode and thought these bar treats sounded particularly scrumptious. They came from the cookbook's "Afternoon Tea" chapter, and indeed I thought my Cranberry Raisin Bars were simply perfect enjoyed (in small portions) with tea!

Cranberry Raisin Bars

1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tablepoons all-purpose flour, divided use
1 large egg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1-1/4 cups mixed dried cranberries, golden and dark raisins (I used half cranberries, half dark raisins)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup coconut
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest (I upped this to 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, then add the brown sugar and 1/2 cup of flour. Combine with a pastry blender until you have a soft dough, then pat it into the bottom of an 8-inch-square baking pan prepared with cooking spray. Bake for 5 minutes. While crust bakes, combine remaining 2 tablespoons of flour with other ingredients. When crust has finished baking, top with mixture, then bake for 25 minutes more, or until edges are beginning to brown. Cool completely before slicing.

***Be sure to stop by next Saturday if you'd like to see what my 2014 "Tea Project" is!

Tea Room Recipe #51 - Judith's Tearooms and Rose Café (Poulsbo, Washington)

One thing I have learned by cooking from tea room cookbooks this year is that a tremendous variety of foods is offered in tea rooms! From dainty sandwiches and salads to hearty comfort foods, there is truly something for everyone to be found within the pages of a tea room cookbook. This week, I decided to make a nice, hearty soup.

This soup is inspired by the Black Forest Cabbage Soup in the 1996 cookbook "Favorite Recipes from Judith's Tearooms and Rose Café." I say "inspired" because this Poulsbo, Washington tea room obviously made everything from scratch, and I just didn't have time for that this week. So I cheated. Don't judge me. It was still just delicious! Basically, the "authentic" version calls for homemade meatballs and homemade chicken broth, but I used store-bought versions of both. The result was still just amazing, which is a good thing because I have been eating from this huge pot of soup all week long!

Black Forest Cabbage Soup

1 head of cabbage, chopped into 1-inch-wide strips
1 large onion, chopped and sautéed
2 cups mushrooms, sliced and sautéed
4 cups red potatoes, quartered and precooked
1 cup German sausage, sliced and precooked (I opted for regular pork sausage)
1 cup cooked turkey, chopped
1 cup cooked meatballs (homemade for the overachievers)
2 tablespoons each of garlic, basil and parsley
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
4 quarts chicken or turkey broth

Toss chopped cabbage in bottom of a large stockpot. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Terrific served with sourdough bread. Makes about 16-20 large servings, I'd say!

Tea Room Recipe #50 - Ryan's Daughters Tea Room (Terre Haute, Indiana)

This week I needed to make more cookies for gift baskets for a few friends, so I turned to one of my tea room cookbooks and found a recipe that features a beloved ingredient: Hershey Bars!

The recipe for these Hershey Bar Cookies comes from the Ryan's Daughters Tea Room's "I Love to Cook Cookbook & More," a 2000 cookbook. I haven't found any information on the internet about whether this particular tea room is still in business, so if anyone knows, please leave a comment!

These super easy and delicious cookies are made in a jelly roll pan. (Mine is a Wilton jelly roll pan and measures 15.25 x 10.25 x .75 inches.) You mix the crust ingredients, bake, then after it's cooled a bit top with Hershey Bars and let them melt before adding nuts. Although the recipe calls for normal-sized candy bars, the giant Hershey Bars happened to be on sale at the grocery store so I substituted two large ones, broke them into pieces, and it worked out great! If you love the classic taste of good old-fashioned Hershey Bars, you will love these cookies!

Hershey Bar Cookies

Dough:

1 large egg yolk
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup light brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt

Topping:

8-10 Hershey Bars
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large mixing bowl of an electric mixer, combine all dough ingredients and mix until the crumbs begin to approach the size of peas and the mixture is moist and dough-like. Spread in a jelly roll pan prepared with cooking spray and bake for 15-20 minutes, just until edges are beginning to brown. Let cool for about 10 minutes, then place Hershey Bars on top and allow to spread. Once the chocolate is melted enough, it will be easy to spread with a knife to cover the cookie base, then sprinkle with nuts. (If the chocolate doesn't melt enough for easy spreading, put pan back in oven for just a minute or two.) Cut cookies while warm for ease in scoring later. I refrigerated my cookies to help the topping settle. I LOVE the taste of these cookies!

Tea Room Recipe #49 - The Thalhimers Richmond Room (Richmond, Virginia)

At this time of year I'm all about cooking comfort foods. Something rich, creamy and hot sounded good for a sweet treat one day, so I decided to make a Rice Pudding recipe I came across in a book about one of the old department stores I so love to research!

"Our Snow Bear Scrapbook: Memories and Recipes from Thalhimers" was written by Elizabeth Thalhimer (now Elizabeth Thalhimer Smartt) and illustrated by her mother, Sallie Thalhimer. Smartt is also the author of the fine book "Finding Thalhimers" (2010). Ever since I started researching department store tea rooms a few years ago, I've developed a great interest in the history of the founders of this country's fine old (and largely gone) department stores. Only a handful of them ever actually had a book devoted to their history, and I must say that "Finding Thalhimers" was a delight to read. Smartt, the great-great-great-granddaughter of the founder, felt compelled to explore her family history through the history of the store, which was in business from 1842 to 1992. After I read her book, I was thrilled to come across this earlier book, published in 2000, of recipes from Thalhimers! The book's title refers to Snow Bear, the popular Christmas character at Thalhimers, and features a number of recipes once served in the store's tea room, the Richmond Room.

The book has plenty of recipes I plan to try, but this delicious Rice Pudding was so fast and easy, with ingredients likely to always be on hand, that I'm sure I'll be making it again and again!

Rice Pudding

1/2 cup uncooked regular rice
3 eggs, well-beaten
1-1/3 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cook rice according to package directions, then combine with remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into a 9 x 9-inch pan prepared with cooking spray and bake for 40-45 minutes. According to the book, this dish was "a delight for kids and grown-ups alike in the Richmond Room."

Tea Room Recipe #48 - The Woman's Exchange Tea Room (Memphis, Tenn.)

I don't know about you, but I could happily eat seafood three times a day. Shrimp and Grits for breakfast, baked fish for lunch, gumbo for supper, and I'd be perfectly happy. And this week, I tried a new Seafood Gumbo recipe that truly feeds a crowd!

This recipe came from a cookbook that's my age, the 1964 "Woman's Exchange Cook Book, Volume 1" from The Woman's Exchange of Memphis, Tenn. According to the book, the Exchange started as an outgrowth of the community kitchens operated during the Depression and "has now (in 1964) grown into a thriving organization operating in its own home at 88 Racine Street, a shop offering handmade clothing, toys, linens, gift items, fine arts, antiques, and the popular TEA ROOM." When I found out this tea room is still operating today, it went on my Bucket List of tea rooms to visit!

The Tea Room specialties featured in the book include a number of dishes I want to try, such as Frosty Strawberry Squares, Old Fashioned Blackberry Jam Cake, and Granny's Chocolate Cup Cakes with Mocha Frosting. For now, though, I'm going to have some more of this gumbo!

Seafood Gumbo

1-1/2 cups chopped onion
4 tablespoons bacon fat (I substituted butter)
2 tablespoons plain flour
6 cups canned diced tomatoes
3 cups water
2 pounds of frozen, cut okra
1 cup of green pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 pound frozen crabmeat, thawed and picked over
1 pound frozen shrimp, shelled and thawed
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Dash of Tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon gumbo file
2 cups oysters and juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Saute onion in fat for 3 minutes, then add flour and stir until onions begin to brown. Add tomatoes and water, cover, and cook for 30 minutes. Reduce heat, add okra, peppers and garlic. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook for one hour. Add crab, shrimp, salt pepper, Tabasco and Worcestershire sauces, return to a boil, then reduce heat and cook covered for 30 minutes. Add nutmeg, file, oysters and lemon juice, then cook on low for 30 minutes. Serve over rice. Yields 1 gallon, or 12-14 large servings of gumbo!

Tea Room Recipe #47 - Historic Castle Marne (Denver, Colorado)

Yes, I know, I usually share tea room recipes on Saturdays, but a) I got behind one week this year and b) a pumpkin recipe really ought to be shared before Thanksgiving! I just discovered this delicious and super easy Pumpkin Bisque, and if anyone needs a quick soup course for Thanksgiving, I can't imagine what could be easier than this!

The recipe comes from a terrific undated cookbook I came across online, "Tea Time at the Historic Castle Marne." It's described today as "a luxury urban inn," but the "castle" dates to 1889 and, according to the book, "is considered by many to be the finest example of 'America's most eclectic architect,' William Lang (designer of Unsinkable Molly Brown's house)." It's located in a historic district, is on the National Register, and continues to offer teas today. If I ever go to Denver, this is where I want to stay!

The book includes lots of great recipes I want to try, including several tea breads, but the Pumpkin Bisque is what got my attention this week, and oh, was it good. I was quite surprised that a bisque without heavy cream could taste as thick and rich as this one did!

Pumpkin Bisque

1 large onion, diced fine
2 tablespoons butter
3 cups canned pumpkin
6 cups chicken stock
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup parsley, chopped (I substituted a couple of tablespoons of dried parsley)

In a large soup pot, sauté onions in butter until translucent. Add pumpkin and chicken stock and cook over medium-high heat for 10 minutes. Remove 1 cup of the pumpkin mixture into a separate bowl, add the flour, and whisk until all lumps are removed. Add flour and soup mixture to pot and whisk well. Cook for 5 minutes, whisking to remove any remaining lumps of flour. Add salt and garnish with parsley. Yields 8 servings.

Tea Room Recipe #46 - Elmwood Inn (Perryville, Kentucky)

I love to see a tiny little bite-sized chocolate treat on a tea tray, so when I came across this recipe for Brownie Tea Cakes, I knew I wanted to try it.

This recipe comes from one of my favorite tea cookbooks, "A Year of Teas at the Elmwood Inn" by Shelley and Bruce Richardson (1994). The legendary Elmwood Inn in Perryville, Kentucky was on my bucket list of tea rooms to visit, but it closed in 2004 before I could get there. Happily, though, the tea room's recipes have been preserved in many books by the Richardsons and of course today they are also known for their own line of teas. Bruce Richardson is well known to readers of Tea Time magazine and other tea publications for the many tea articles he has written over the years. I had the pleasure of meeting him (briefly) at two different tea conferences, and I remember being impressed that such a knowledgeable tea expert was such a down-to-earth guy. I wouldn't have been surprised if he were a tea snob, but that could not have been further from the truth. I have used a scone recipe from this book for years, but this week I decided to try the Brownie Tea Cakes, and they were awesome!

The only thing I did differently was that I used hazelnuts instead of walnuts, and I must say I loved these little chocolate brownie treats! (So did the official Tea With Friends taste tester, by the way.)

Brownie Tea Cakes

3/4 cup butter
2 squares semi-sweet chocolate
1 square unsweetened chocolate
1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped (or hazelnuts!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and chocolate squares over low heat. Remove from heat, add sugar and combine. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

Combine flour, cocoa and salt, then add to mixture. Stir with a whisk until mixture is smooth, then add nuts. Spoon batter into paper liners in mini-muffin pan, filling liners 3/4 full. Bake 12-15 minutes. (The recipe says it yields 32 cakes, but I got 42 and I didn't scrimp!)

Tea Room Recipe #45 - Idyl Hours Tea Room (Cypress, Texas)

Some recipes, frankly, have such a bizarre combination of ingredients that you a) wonder how on earth this could work and b) suspect that it just might. That's the case with this week's delightful recipe from a small tea room in Texas.

Tea room cookbooks are just so fun to read. Idyl Hours Tea Room in Cypress, Texas closed in 2009, but the tea room's owner, Stella Riley Pinson, has compiled some of the tea room's favorite recipes and made them available in a cookbook on Amazon, which is where I found my copy of "The Idyl Hours Cookbook." Here is what she says on her Amazon page: "This isn't a book of recipes for high tea. This is a book of recipes from a little tea room in Texas. It's peppered with local history, artwork, and photos." I love how she spelled that out, because some folks are still unaware that American's earliest tea rooms were not Victorian tea parlors with lace doilies and three-tiered servers. That may be what we think of today, yet I think it's important to honor past tea room history by acknowledging the hardworking women (and men!) who had the gumption to open quaint little restaurants where travelers, and locals, could stop and enjoy a nice meal. Also, Pinson's story of how she came to acquire the tea room is a great read!

And the recipe I decided to make from this book was fun and easy to cook! If I told you to spice up some baked chicken with a combination of apricot preserves, French dressing and onion soup mix, would you be skeptical? I was, and yet somehow I had a hunch this could work. For one thing, the tea room entrees I have tried this year have all been wonderful. In fact, only one tea room recipe so far this year turned out to be a dud. (Which one? Well, it was a dessert, a chocolate cake recipe from a tea room in Mississippi. This thing turned out to be so dreadful that my husband tossed it out in the yard for me, and he later admitted upon inquiry that even the critters wouldn't touch it. Our critters obviously have standards.) At any rate, this week's tea room recipe is most certainly *not* a dud, and I hope you'll give it a try!

Almond and Apricot Baked Chicken

1 envelope dry onion soup mix (store brand is fine)
1 (16-ounce) bottle Ken's Country French dressing
1 (18-ounce) jar apricot preserves
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, add the onion soup mix, French dressing and apricot preserves, stirring with a wire whisk until combined well. Using a 9x13-inch pan prepared with cooking spray, spread one-third of the sauce mixture. Add chicken breasts to the pan, then pour the rest of the sauce evenly on top and bake for 1 hour. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt butter and sugar over medium-high heat, until the mixture is bubbling. Add almonds and stir constantly until all the almonds are coated well. Remove from heat and set aside until chicken has cooked. Use the caramelized almonds as a garnish when chicken has finished baking. Serve over rice if desired.

Tea Room Recipe #44 - Younkers Tea Room (Des Moines, Iowa)

Do you usually get a salad along with your afternoon tea when you visit a tea room? I do only occasionally, but I love salads and it's always a treat to get one at teatime, because tea room salads are always much more special than just a little iceberg lettuce with some thousand island dressing thrown on top. This week, I made a tea room's once-famous salad simply because the bacon dressing reminded me of a tasty salad I once had in Atlanta.

This recipe comes from the "Holiday Celebrations" cookbook from Younkers, a department store whose flagship store was in Des Moines, Iowa. When I came across the book, I was thrilled to find that there is an entire chapter of tea room classics from the Younkers Tea Room, and this week's recipe is one of them.

The dressing is super easy to make, and the hot dressing over the wilted spinach leaves makes it oh so good!

Wilted Spinach Salad

8 cups spinach
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
4 slices bacon, diced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup rice vinegar
4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

Toss spinach and mushrooms in a large salad bowl. In a skillet, cook bacon over medium heat for about 3 minutes, then add onions and cook until they are translucent and the bacon is crisp. Drain and reserve 3 tablespoons of the bacon drippings in the skillet. Add mustard, brown sugar, white wine and vinegar and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Pour dressing over salad and toss to combine. Add eggs, toss and serve immediately. Yields 6 servings.

Tea Room Recipe #43 - Sun Dial Tea Room (New Harmony, Indiana)

I love oranges. Do you? If so, you may want to try this moist, citrusy Orange Cake that is a recipe from the 1930s!

This week's tea room recipe comes from the Sun Dial Tea Room in New Harmony, Indiana, which operated from 1936-1942. I bought this cookbook online without seeing a photo of it, and I assumed because of the title it was a vintage book, but actually it's a 1998 book written by Lois Harmon Poteet, granddaughter of the tea room's operators, Carl and LeNeva Hellner. She says her grandparents were given $100 to get the tea room started. "The tables were purchased in Evansville and were painted black. They bought chairs in Tell City, Indiana, and painted them to match. Miss Fauntleroy gave the Hellners a big corner cabinet and sideboard. Antique dishes were placed on the shelves. They used green depression glass plates on the tables. There were silver decanters for vinegar, catsup and mustard. They used blue bean pots from Uhl Pottery as sugar bowls on each table …" Have you ever seen such a great description of a tea room of yesteryear? Wow!

This 1930s-era cake was simple to make, and the citrusy icing was, well, the icing on the cake. The cake is so moist, and I must say it made an excellent accompaniment to my afternoon cup of tea!

Orange Cake

1-1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 tablespoon orange juice
Grated rind of 1 orange
8 egg yolks
2-3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3/4 cups sifted cake flour
3/4 cup milk


Icing:

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons orange juice (or as needed for desired consistency)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream sugar and shortening. Add lemon extract, orange juice, orange rind, and combine. Using an electric mixer and a smaller bowl, beat the egg yolks for about 5 minutes on high speed, until they are bright yellow and fluffy. Stir eggs into the shortening and sugar mixture. Sift baking powder and salt with the flour and add alternately with the milk to the creamed mixture.

Pour batter into a tube pan prepared with cooking spray. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until top of cake is light brown and pulls away from side of pan. Let cool completely on a wire rack. For icing, combine powdered sugar, melted butter and orange juice and spread on top of cake.

Tea Room Recipe #42 - The Frances Virginia Tea Room (Atlanta, Ga.)

"That doesn't sound like a tea room recipe," my husband said when I told him the name of this week's tea room recipe: Steak Balls with Mushroom Sauce. I assured him this is indeed a tea room recipe, and in fact this recipe is from one of my very favorite tea room cookbooks!

"The Frances Virginia Tea Room Cookbook" was written by Mildred Huff Coleman, whom I first got to know when I was a journalist interviewing her, but later I'm happy to say she became a friend. I've even had tea at her lovely home in Atlanta! Thanks largely to Millie, the Frances Virginia will be remembered forever. It was a legendary tea room that operated in Atlanta from the late 1920s until the 1960s, and many older ladies in this area can recall eating there when they went to "the city" for an afternoon of shopping. Millie's aunt, Agnes New, was at one time a partner in the tea room, and one day she "dusted off her Tea Room files" and began helping Millie convert recipes once prepared in commercial quantities to recipes that could be used by home cooks. The recipes range from starters like muffins and soups to salads and sandwiches, luncheon dishes both hearty and light, and some dessert recipes I was thrilled to find, including several of those delightful "chiffon" pie recipes, including Coconut Chiffon Pie, Maple Chiffon Pie and Sherry Chiffon Pie. Best of all, the book includes memories of those who dined at this old-fashioned tea room, and it is a sheer delight to read. If I could keep only two or three of my tea room cookbooks, this one would always make the cut, it's that good! (If you'd like more info on the book, go here.)

The cool weather once again has me wanting to try new recipes for dinner, so this week it was a yummy sounding meat dish that caught my eye. The recipe was very easy to make, and it was quite a hearty meal when served over whole wheat egg noodles. My husband and I both loved it!

Steak Balls with Mushroom Sauce

1 pound ground beef
1 can mushroom soup, undiluted
2/3 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons onion, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons shortening or oil
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine beef with 1/4 cup of the undiluted soup, bread crumbs, onion, salt and egg. Shape into 10 balls (about 2 ounces or 1/4 cup each), and brown in shortening. Drain. Arrange steak balls in a shallow baking dish. Combine remaining soup with water and Worcestershire sauce and pour over steak balls. Bake for 30 minutes. Yields 5 servings.

Tea Room Recipe #41 - The Russian Tea Room (New York City)

New York City's Russian Tea Room is legendary. Though I've never been there, I've wanted to, but I thought I remembered hearing it had closed. Well, it did for a few years, but I was pleased to learn it's open again today, and my fellow tea blogger friend Linda and her family enjoyed tea there quite recently! (Go here to see the wonderful pictures of today's Russian Tea Room on her blog.)

"The Russian Tea Room: A Tasting" by Faith Stewart-Gordon is a small 1993 book I got by mistake. I thought I was ordering "The Russian Tea Room Cookbook" (still on my never-ending Wish List), but when this book arrived I thought the artwork, including the cover design, was simply charming so I kept it! This week I wanted to try a nice, hearty, fall-weather kind of dish, and the Russian Tea Room's Beef Stroganoff recipe fit the bill.

Actually, they call it Beef à la Stroganoff. Where did the name originate? "In honor of Count Pavel Stroganov, his Parisian chef created a special beef dish by adding sour cream to a French mustard sauce." Now I like the low-rent version of Beef Stroganoff made with ground beef and cream of mushroom soup just fine, but I have to tell you my more highbrow palate *greatly* enjoyed this much nicer version made with filet mignon. This may be one of the only times I share a red meat recipe on this blog, and I must say this dish was mighty fine. Enjoying it once a year ought to be about right!

Beef à la Stroganoff

4 ounces peanut oil
2 pounds filet mignon, cut into strips (I cut mine a little smaller than the recommended 2-1/2 x 1/4-inch thickness)
1 medium onion, diced fine
1/2 pound button mushrooms, sliced into quarters
1/2 cup dry white wine (I substituted white grape juice with great results!)
1 tablespoon tomato puree
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
2 cups beef stock
1-1/2 cups sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat 2 ounces of the peanut oil in a sauté pan until oil reaches the smoking point. After seasoning the meat with salt and pepper, sear half of it until cooked evenly, then remove with a slotted spoon to another dish. Repeat with remaining oil and other half of meat. (Cooking must be done in two batches to cook the meat evenly since the pan won't be large enough to cook it all at one time.)

Reduce heat to medium and pour off most of the oil, leaving just enough to sauté the onion. Cook till translucent. Add mushrooms and cook. Deglaze pan with the white wine (or grape juice), reducing liquid until almost gone. Add tomato puree and mustard. Add the beef stock and cook until liquid is reduced by two-thirds, stirring constantly. Lower heat and whisk in the sour cream. Add the cooked meat to the pan and slowly heat. Serve with rice. Yields 6 servings.

Tea Room Recipe #40 - Old Southern Tea Room (Vicksburg, Mississippi)

This week I decided to make a big pot of Chicken a la King after I found a recipe for it in an old Mississippi tea room cookbook. Served with rice and vegetables on one of my old green Depression glass grill plates, I thought this made a nice presentation of an easy fall comfort food!

This 1960 cookbook features recipes from the Old Southern Tea Room, a restaurant in Vicksburg, Mississippi that was praised by the food critic Duncan Hines and newspapers including the Minneapolis Star and the Chicago Sunday Tribune. (Caution for fellow tea room cookbook collectors: The book was illustrated in, shall we say, less enlightened times, so line drawings such as the "happy Mammie" images may offend some. I don't like the images, but I think tea room history is worth preserving in all its forms, and so this book is a part of that.)

The recipe I made this week is called Aunt Carrie's Chicken a la King. Well, I am here to tell you that Aunt Carrie could have been a bit more specific with her directions, so I am going to share exactly how I made my recipe since she left too much to chance!

Aunt Carrie's Chicken a la King

1 (5-pound) chicken
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped parsley
5 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups milk
1 small (2-ounce) jar pimientos
2 small (7-ounce) cans mushrooms
6 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
1/2 stick butter
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, cover the chicken with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 1 hour, until very tender. Debone and cut into large pieces. Strain and use remaining broth (I had about 6 cups) to cook celery, bell pepper and parsley, cooking until tender. Add a few tablespoons of water to the cornstarch to make a paste, then add to the broth and vegetables and whisk until completely blended. Add milk and whisk, then fold in chicken, pimientos, mushrooms, eggs and butter. Season as desired. Serve over rice. Yields 10-12 servings.

Tea Room Recipe #39 - The Blethering Place Tea Room (Oak Bay, British Columbia, Canada)

Lately I've come across several fall recipes using cheddar cheese and apples, so this week I decided to try a Cheese and Apple Loaf, not quite sure what the result would be.

The recipe comes from the 1990 book "From The Blethering Place: A Collection of Traditional British Recipes." According to the book, "blethering" is a Scottish term which means "voluble, senseless talking." The tea room is now closed, but it was located in the village's oldest building and was originally home of a grocery store and post office. I love that!

Now the directions said to make this in "a" loaf pan, but it made so much batter, I couldn't help thinking this meant "a large" loaf pan, and I have only the smaller size ones. So, I made two loaves and adjusted the cooking time to 1 hour instead of an hour and a half. The result (despite a bit of sugar) was a crunchy-crusted, savory tasting bread I think would be great served alongside a fall or winter soup. The official Tea With Friends taste-tester disagreed, saying he detected the sweetness and, come to think of it, how would this be with a little honey on it? Well, he was right, and it was terrific! (I still think this would be lovely served with soup. It reminded me just a bit of those famous Cheddar Bay Biscuits at Red Lobster, but without the garlic.)

However you enjoy it, I think this bread is a great recipe for fall!

Cheese and Apple Loaf

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup superfine sugar (pulse regular sugar in the food processor for a minute or so if you don't have superfine)
2 eggs, beaten
8 ounces unpeeled, grated apples and their juice (about 2 medium)
1-1/4 cups grated Cheddar cheese
1-1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 rounded teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs, apples, cheese and nuts. Sift the remaining ingredients together, add to bowl, and mix well. Batter will be very, very stiff! Spoon the batter into a loaf pan prepared with cooking spray and bake for 1-1/2 to 2 hours. (Note: Remember that this is for the large loaf. The two smaller loaves required only 1 hour of baking time when I made mine.)

Tea Room Recipe #38 - Barb's Country Tea Room and Yankee Peddlers (Osage Beach, Missouri)

Earlier this month, my husband and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary with a day in the north Georgia mountains. We enjoyed riding around and hitting all the antique malls along the way (or at least, I did!), and he asked if there was anything special I wanted to look for in the mountains. Yes, a fudge shop, I said. You always see fudge shops in the mountains, and since I hadn't had any fudge in ages, I wanted some. This week, I found a super easy recipe for a fudgey treat in one of my tea room cookbooks and decided to give it a try.

This cookbook is titled "A Collection of Favorite Recipes" from Barb's Country Tea Room and Yankee Peddlers in Osage Beach, Missouri. There's no date on the cookbook, but because of the ducks and country blue coloring I'm betting it's from the eighties. And I was delighted to find that what is now called Yankee Peddlers Tea Room is still in business there! It sounds like a fun place to enjoy tea and antiquing.

This recipe is called Quick 'N Easy Pecan Penuche, and penuche is a word I wasn't familiar with. (Did you know you can find the pronunciation of words by looking them up at the Merriam-Webster website and clicking on the audio icon? Go here to check it out!) I learned that penuche is "fudge made usually of brown sugar, butter, cream or milk, and nuts," which is exactly what's in this decadent treat. I think I'll start calling all my fudge penuche because it sounds so exotic. Just a single one-inch bite served in a paper cup would be a nice addition to the dessert course at teatime, don't you think?

Quick 'N Easy Pecan Penuche

1/2 cup butter or margarine (I used butter)
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup milk
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup chopped pecans (I used a mix of walnuts and pecans)

Prepare an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter, add the brown sugar and boil. Reduce heat to low and stir for 2 minutes. Add milk, increase heat to medium and again bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool to room temperature. Add confectioners sugar and stir until mixture is smooth and creamy. Add 3/4 cup of the nuts and combine. Pour mixture into pan, then add the remaining 1/4 cup of nuts and lightly press into the mixture. Refrigerate until firm, or overnight. Cut into 1-inch squares and store in fridge, covered, up to 2 weeks. Yields about 5-1/2 dozen pieces.