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| Baked Beans
The folks at the Dutch Kitchen especially recommend baked beans for summer's patriotic holidays. "What would be a typical picnic day for many is often celebrated at the Dutch Kitchen with family & friends."
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| Basic Risotto
Risotto was virtually unknown in America until a few decades ago, but it has become one of the most popular items on fine Italian restaurant menus. It is also called Arborio rice, and it differs from ordinary rice in that it is always slow-cooked with flavored broth (and sometimes other ingredients) until it attains a thick, creamy consistency and the rice is saturated with the flavors of its cooking media.
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| Chicken Divine
Having a party? Here's a dish that serves many and needs only a salad or relish to complete it. The recipe for Chicken Divine can be cut in half and is a perfect meal to make when you find yourself with leftover chicken (or, for that matter, turkey) and/or broccoli. It's a great combination of ingredients, but the secret that brings them all together, of course, is that casserole-chef's favorite flavor-enhancer, crumbled Ritz crackers.
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| Chicken Tetrazzini
It has an Italian name, but chicken tetrazzini – named for internationally famous Victorian-era coloratura soprano, Luisia Tetrazzini, reassures eaters around the globe. It combines those twin mainstays of the comfort food pantheon, chicken and noodles; plus – in this case – creamed soup and Cheez Whiz, too.
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| Corn Pudding
Here is one of the greatest cold-weather party recipes in the world, a side dish that goes with almost any sort of roast, shrimp casserole, or chile. It is the most-requested recipe that we’ve ever served, and guests who try it once demand it on return trips. We learned it from an old pal, Ippy Patterson, who learned it from a lady she knew in San Francisco.
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| Fritos Pie
The Five and Dime General Store, on the Plaza in Santa Fe, is the only place we know that still serves Fritos pie in a Fritos bag. You'll find this inspired mix of chips, chili, and cheese throughout the Southwest, and legend says that it was invented on the Plaza, when this place used to be the old Woolworth's. You don't want to use a sophisticated or overly hot chili in this dish. It is lunch-counter fare, and should be accessible to all taste buds.
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| Green Beans
"In the South, mama always canned green beans from the garden," says Louis Van Dyke of the Blue Willow Inn. "That is why we always used canned green beans, even when fresh-from-the garden are available. "People come to the Blue Willow Inn to eat food like mama or grandmother made; and when it comes to beans, they have to be canned."
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| Hoppel Poppel
If you are looking for a really big breakfast in Wisconsin or Iowa, find a place that serves hoppel poppel. At Benji's deli in Milwaukee it is part of a large menu that includes such traditional Jewish fare as corned beef and fried kreplach. It is listed as a Benjy's special, and customers have their choice of regular hoppel poppel, which is browned potatoes, salami, and scrambled eggs, or super hoppel poppel, which added green peppers, mushrooms, and melted cheese to the formula. This recipe makes 4 very large servings or 6 modest ones.
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| King Ranch Casserole
King Ranch casserole is ubiquitous in Texas Junior League cookbooks, but a relative rarity in restaurants. It is said that there are as many recipes for it as there are Lone Star cooks, but the basic elements usually are canned soup, cheese, tortillas (flour, corn or just chips) and chicken. How a chicken casserole got named for a famous cattle ranch is anybody's guess.
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| Macaroni and Cheese
The South is not unique in its love for macaroni and cheese, one of the true all-American comfort foods. At the Blue Willow Inn, it is one of the few items served every day, every meal.
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| Migas
Migas is a Tex Mex breakfast dish in which eggs are scrambled with tortillas and usually some breakfast meat and cheese. The tortillas soften when they cook with the eggs, creating a wonderful texture to the dish. Be creative and add whatever ingredients you might think of putting in an omelet. This recipe makes one serving. Double or quadruple it for more.
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| New Joe Special
I won't get into the complete genealogy of the New Joe Special (because I cannot; it's too confusing), but the most credible tale of its origin is that it was invented late one night at San Francisco's New Joe's Restaurant to feed a hungry musician who ordered a spinach omelet but asked the chef if he could add anything to make his eggs more substantial. The chef said he had some hamburger meat left over from dinner hour. Now, all around the Bay Area, you will find menus that list Original Joes, New Joes, Baby Joes, and just plain Joes, all of which are a variation of the skillet meal that includes ground beef, spinach, and eggs. We like it at Original Joe's in San Jose (since 1956), where it is called the Joe's Special and the menu alerts customers, "We are not associated with any other 'Joe's' restaurants."
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| Shrimp de Jonghe
Shrimp de Jonghe is unique to Chicago. Its essential ingredients are shrimp, garlic, bread crumbs, and butter; variations around the city range from shrimp swimming in a pool of melted, flavored butter to casseroles in which the bread crumbs form a crunchy lid atop the fish. Our recipe is between the extremes -- moist, but edible by fork. The goodness of this dish depends on top-quality shrimp.
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