This recipe came from Rick’s mother, Evelyn Tucker, who made Turkey Salad every year from leftover turkey after Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. This is Rick’s best recollection of the recipe; it wasn’t written down anywhere. Ingredients Leftover turkey, both white and dark meat (I prefer half-and-half), cut into oblong pieces about 1/2 to 3/4…
Curried Chicken Balls
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From Howard Dixon Ingredients ¼ lb creamed cheese, softened 2 Tablespoons of mayonnaise 1 cup chopped (boiled) chicken 1 Tablespoon mango chutney (chopped) found the jellies and sauces section 1 cup blanched almonds lightly toasted and then chopped ½ teaspoon salt 1 Tablespoon curry powder ½ cup grated coconut (the bakers’ sweetened coconut is okay) Directions Chop chicken…
Flourless Chocolate Cake
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From Cathy Furlong and Larry Kahn I realize the recipe calls for 10″ tins; however, I like the texture of the cake when I follow the same cooking instructions but use five 6″ cake tins for two recipes. (One recipe makes 2.5 6″ tins, so I usually make two recipes at a time– making 5…
House of Roy
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House of Roy was a Cantonese Chinese restaurant in Boston, Massachusetts in the 1970s, a favorite of MIT students and others. Rick and his MIT cohorts, particularly from MIT’s MacGregor House B-entry (Marc Blank, Joel Berez, Mike Dornbrook, Mike Riley, and others) visited the House of Roy weekly starting in 1972. There were two primary…
Les Halles
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Ah, we miss Les Halles (also known as Brasserie Les Halles, pronounced as LAY ALL). This modern and fun French restaurant at 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington DC was a favorite of many, not just us. This location closed around November 2008 after 15 years. Two Les Halles locations remain, both in New York…
Bertucci’s in Old Town Alexandria
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We enjoy eating at Bertucci’s wherever they are located. The food is always fresh and tasty. But we find ourselves often heading to the Bertucci’s in Old Town Alexandria at 725 King Street because they’re close and we can eat outside with our dogs, and they’re very friendly and accommodating (like eating outside after the…
Hard Times Café
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A perennial favorite of the ginHill crowd is the original Hard Times Café at 1404 King Street in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia. We enjoy the Santa Fe egg rolls as an appetizer. Rick always goes for the five-way Texas chili (and adds lots of Tabasco sauce). Howard likes the 2-way veggie Mac along with cole slaw…
Thai Pilin
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The Thai Pilin restaurant is a lunch-time favorite of Rick’s It’s located on Route 7 in the Tysons Corner area, or, more precisely, at 8385 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, Virginia 22182. My favorite is Pad Thai Pak (vegetable Pad Thai, with rice noodles, but I also enjoy their many curry dishes and other specials. I’m still exploring their…
Dirty Martini
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Ingredients (per glass) 2 jiggers (around 3 oz. or 100 ml) vodka, unflavored (if possible, use vodka that’s been stored in a freezer, otherwise, wing it) 1 oz. dry vermouth ½ oz. olive brine juice (what’s in a store-bought olives jar other than the olives!) 1-3 green olives from store-bought jar Preparation To shaker, add vodka,…
Blue Drinks
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Ingredients 1 12 oz. can of frozen margarita mix (Bacardi brand or similar), slightly thawed so the can can be squeezed Blue Curaçao liqueur Tequila (Herradura or other brand) Ice Preparation To blender pitcher, add partially frozen margarita mix from can To now empty mix can, fill ⅓ with Blue Curacao and add to blender…
Kir Royal
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Ingredients 2 oz. chilled crème de cassis (blackcurrant-flavored liqueur) chilled Champagne of your choice, preferably dry (optional) fresh raspberries Preparation Select fluted Champagne glasses (preferably chilled) Add crème de cassis to flute Add 1-2 raspberries to each flute Fill to the rim with Champagne, mixing by very slowly turning flute
Spanish Rice
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Ingredients 1 lb. ground beef ½ cup chopped onion ⅓ cup chopped green pepper 1 clove garlic, minced 1 can tomato soup 1 cup water ½ cup rice ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon pepper 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce Preparation In skillet, cook beef, onions, green peppers, and garlic until meat is browned and vegetables are…
Grilled Swordfish with Couscous
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I’ve always said that if swordfish is on the menu at a restaurant, I’ll order it! Swordfish has been a top-notch favorite of mine for as long as I can remember. There were some years in the 1970s or thereabouts when swordfish wasn’t readily available due to mercury poisoning. Thankfully, it’s readily available now, and…
Mom’s Spaghetti Sauce
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This is the spaghetti sauce my mother made in my youth. We didn’t buy bottles of already made pasta sauce… was there a market for them then? Ingredients 1¼ lb. ground beef ½ large onion, chopped oregano chili powder 6 cloves garlic large can (29 oz.) Hunt’s tomato sauce regular can of tomato soup Preparation…
Porcupine Meat Balls
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Ingredients 1 can condensed tomato soup 1 lb. ground beef ¼ cup uncooked rice 1 egg, slightly beaten ¼ cup minced onion 2 tablespoons minced parsley 1 teaspoon salt 1 small clove garlic, minced 1 tablespoon shortening 1 cup water Preparation Mix ¼ cup tomato soup with beef, rice, egg, onion, parsley, and salt. Shape…
Stuffed Peppers
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Ingredients ground beef (or other meat) chili sauce 1 egg (optional) ½ green pepper, chopped green pepper, whole Italian-seasoned bread crumbs garlic salt Preparation In bowl, mix ground beef, chili sauce (to moisten), egg, chopped onions, chopped green peppers, bread crumbs, and garlic salt. Cut out top of each green pepper and remove seeds. Stuff…
Johnny Mazolla
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(pronounced: JON-ee ma-ZO-lee) Ingredients ground hamburger chopped onions garlic powder salt 1 can, tomato soup parmesan cheese macaroni, cooked Preparation Cook macaroni in boiling water. Drain. Place hamburger, chopped onions, garlic powder, and salt in pan. Brown hamburger. Drain fat. Combine macaroni, hamburger, and parmesan cheese, and warm.
Spaghetti Squash
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Ingredients 1 spaghetti squash Preparation Bake or microwave spaghetti squash to soften skin. Cut spaghetti squash in half along the longer dimension. Remove seeds. Place cut-side down on a baking sheet. Bake at 450ºF for 45 minutes until skin is tender. Remove from oven. Use fork to strip strands from each spaghetti squash hull. Strip…
Florentine Squash Bake
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Ingredients ¼ cup all-purpose flour ⅛ teaspoon ground red pepper 2 cups skim milk vegetable cooking spray ½ cup chopped onion 3 cloves garlic, minced ½ cup (2 oz.) grated Gruyère cheese 10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry 5 cups cooked spaghetti squash ⅔ cup (3 oz.) chopped proscuitto Preparation Place…
Norwegian Butter Cookies
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Rosslands of Bergen, Norway Ingredients ½ cup margarine ½ cup sugar 1 egg yolk 1 teaspoon vanilla (if recipe is doubled, use 1 tablespoon vanilla or 1 teaspoon almond extract) 1¼ cup flour Preparation Pre-heat oven to 375ºF Mix all ingredients Roll out and cut into shapes Bake 10-11 minutes