Thursday night's dinner earned me bragging rights!

Woo-hoo!

My ex-step Great Aunt was visiting the family compound these last two weeks
and was to return home (Kentucky) on Friday 7/8. Since she wasn't booked
with any other plans I threw a little dinner party.

This meal wasn't as elaborate as I'm known for doing but certainly appealed
to everyone. In fact, to hear the oooohhhs, ahhhhs, and 'you made that
too?' you would have thought that everyone expected PB & J sandwiches but
were surprised to have a 5-star restaurant cater their meal! LOL

Things began quite simply with cheeses and ripe olives. The cheeses were:
Horseradish, mild cheddar, and sharp white cheddar. Fried spinach was
intended only for the meal - but it too became an appetizer! I could barely
keep a handful of guests out of it!

The meal was composed of:
Oriental Coleslaw
Yeast Rolls
Fried Spinach
Egg Noodles
Western Beef
Dessert: New York style Cheesecake with strawberries on the side.
(all made from scratch)

One person asked where the cheesecake came from... "ummm, I baked it last
night...". Too funny.

The Aunt's sister is usually known for being quite 'proper' (most times!LOL)
and had executed great manners during dinner and even helped to clear the
table after the meal... but what was funny was that each time she would
bring something into the kitchen (even though I told her it was unnecessary
for her to help) she and her sister would cut slivers off the cheesecake,
eat it and then return for another item from the dining room... and repeat
the same actions...

If you haven't had the opportunity to try Fried Spinach - I encourage you to
try it. It is amazing! I had it at a restaurant many years ago and had
promised myself that I would make it at home. Well, Thursday was the day to
try it. Man, am I glad I did! It is SO good! Taste a lot like chips but
with a slightly 'green' flavor. <shrug> Totally wonderful and extremely
easy to prepare. Recipe to follow:


Fried Spinach:

Oil (I used Canola)
Shortening (cheap white stuff to ensure the Canola wouldn't smoke)
Fresh Spinach (we went through 2 pounds!)
Salt & Pepper

Pour oil and a few globs of shortening into your deep fryer.

Bring temperature to 375 °F.

Take handful of clean and DRY spinach - drop into fryer.

Once splattering has slowed down, remove spinach and place on paper towels
to drain.

Immediately sprinkle salt and pepper.

Eat!!

That's it. Easy, tasty and amazing. Two days later and I'm still receiving
comments about the spinach. YUMMM!!

Cyndi

"Rick & Cyndi" <rnchackett@verizon.net> wrote

Dinner sure sounded great! That was cute about your aunt filching
cheesecake on the sly.

> If you haven't had the opportunity to try Fried Spinach - I encourage you
> to try it. It is amazing! I had it at a restaurant many years ago and
> had promised myself that I would make it at home. Well, Thursday was the
> day to try it. Man, am I glad I did! It is SO good! Taste a lot like
> chips but with a slightly 'green' flavor. <shrug> Totally wonderful and
> extremely easy to prepare. Recipe to follow:

I remember Jill having that somewhere and she raved about it also. I have
to
try it. Thanks for the recipe.

nancy

"Nancy Young" <qwerty@monmouth.com> wrote in message
news:dapu6k$81o$1@news.monmouth.com...
>
> "Rick & Cyndi" <rnchackett@verizon.net> wrote
>
> Dinner sure sounded great! That was cute about your aunt filching
> cheesecake on the sly.
>
>> If you haven't had the opportunity to try Fried Spinach - I encourage you
>> to try it. It is amazing! I had it at a restaurant many years ago and
>> had promised myself that I would make it at home. Well, Thursday was the
>> day to try it. Man, am I glad I did! It is SO good! Taste a lot like
>> chips but with a slightly 'green' flavor. <shrug> Totally wonderful and
>> extremely easy to prepare. Recipe to follow:
>
> I remember Jill having that somewhere and she raved about it also. I have
> to
> try it. Thanks for the recipe.
>
> nancy
>=====

Thank you and you are welcome!

The two of them were so funny together! With very little imagination, one
could picture them doing something similar as teenagers... bring dishes from
the table...take a bite of something...bring in some glasses...take another
bite... nibbling and chatting away. It was so cute. And with the one
sister so usually 'proper'... I guess you'd have to know her to appreciate
the humor - but it was all I could do to not roar with laughter.

Nancy, please let me know your thoughts after you make the spinach. I think
you will really enjoy it and will most likely wonder why you hadn't been
preparing it that way for years!

Cyndi

Cyndi wrote:

> The meal was composed of:
> Oriental Coleslaw
> Yeast Rolls
> Fried Spinach
> Egg Noodles
> Western Beef
> Dessert: New York style Cheesecake with strawberries on the side.
> (all made from scratch)

What is "Western Beef"?

Bob

"Bob" <virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote in message
news:42d07f17$0$50277$bb4e3ad8@newscene.com...
> Cyndi wrote:
>
>> The meal was composed of:
>> Oriental Coleslaw
>> Yeast Rolls
>> Fried Spinach
>> Egg Noodles
>> Western Beef
>> Dessert: New York style Cheesecake with strawberries on the side.
>> (all made from scratch)
>
> What is "Western Beef"?
>
> Bob
>===========

It's basically stewing beef cooked in it's own gravy with lemon juice and
chili powder. Quite tasty.


Western Beef

Mix together:
3 1/2 # lean Stew Beef (I used a beef roast that I cut up)
1 TBSP Salt
2/3 cup Flour
1/4 cup Lemon Juice
1 1/4 TBSP Chili Powder

Brown in oil.

Add 1 chopped onion.

Cover with boiling water and simmer until tender. Uncover to cook down to
make a gravy before serving. Taste to determine if re-seasoning is needed.
Serve with noodles or rice.

NOTE: You can also cook this in a Crock-Pot after browning the meat. Cook
on low for 10-12 hours.

Cyndi wrote:

>> What is "Western Beef"?
>>
>> Bob
>>===========
>
> It's basically stewing beef cooked in it's own gravy with lemon juice and
> chili powder. Quite tasty.
<snip recipe>

I'll have to give that a try sometime. Thanks very much!

Bob

Rick & Cyndi wrote, in part, sharing something to try:
> Woo-hoo!
> Fried Spinach:
>
> Oil (I used Canola)
> Shortening (cheap white stuff to ensure the Canola wouldn't smoke)
> Fresh Spinach (we went through 2 pounds!)
> Salt & Pepper
>
> Pour oil and a few globs of shortening into your deep fryer.
>
> Bring temperature to 375 °F.
>
> Take handful of clean and DRY spinach - drop into fryer.
>
> Once splattering has slowed down, remove spinach and place on paper towels
> to drain.
>
> Immediately sprinkle salt and pepper.
>
> Eat!!
>
> That's it. Easy, tasty and amazing. Two days later and I'm still receiving
> comments about the spinach. YUMMM!!
>
> Cyndi
Oh, my! I have been thinking of getting myself a deep fryer, and this
tempt has me convinced it's to be!
Thanks for your sharing,
....Picky ~JA~

"Rick & Cyndi" <rnchackett@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:CU_ze.863$ao6.343@trnddc05...
> Woo-hoo!
>
....fantastic homemade meal description and fried spinach recipe snipped
>
> That's it. Easy, tasty and amazing. Two days later and I'm still
> receiving comments about the spinach. YUMMM!!
>
> Cyndi

Intriguing! I've never heard of fried spinach before, but it sounds
interesting. Will have to try it. I was thinking of trying to make
deep-fried onion rings sometime soon, but the fried spinach experiment
sounds just fascinating!

And I love the story about the two sisters nibbling on leftovers under
guise of clearing up. Truly a compliment to the meal, as well as a
charming story.

Thanks for sharing!
Chris

Nancy Young wrote:
> "Rick & Cyndi" <rnchackett@verizon.net> wrote
>
> Dinner sure sounded great! That was cute about your aunt filching
> cheesecake on the sly.
>
>> If you haven't had the opportunity to try Fried Spinach - I
>> encourage you to try it. It is amazing! I had it at a restaurant
>> many years ago and had promised myself that I would make it at home.
>> Well, Thursday was the day to try it. Man, am I glad I did! It is
>> SO good! Taste a lot like chips but with a slightly 'green' flavor.
>> <shrug> Totally wonderful and extremely easy to prepare. Recipe to
>> follow:
>
> I remember Jill having that somewhere and she raved about it also. I
> have to
> try it. Thanks for the recipe.
>
> nancy

I did and I've made it at home, too (sans the shortening). It's really
good!

Jill

"Rick & Cyndi" <rnchackett@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:gH%ze.871$ao6.24@trnddc05...
>
> "Bob" <virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote in message
> news:42d07f17$0$50277$bb4e3ad8@newscene.com...
>> Cyndi wrote:
>>
>>> The meal was composed of:
>>> Oriental Coleslaw
>>> Yeast Rolls
>>> Fried Spinach
>>> Egg Noodles
>>> Western Beef
>>> Dessert: New York style Cheesecake with strawberries on the side.
>>> (all made from scratch)
>>
>> What is "Western Beef"?
>>
>> Bob
>>===========
>
> It's basically stewing beef cooked in it's own gravy with lemon juice and
> chili powder. Quite tasty.
>
>
> Western Beef
>
> Mix together:
> 3 1/2 # lean Stew Beef (I used a beef roast that I cut up)
> 1 TBSP Salt
> 2/3 cup Flour
> 1/4 cup Lemon Juice
> 1 1/4 TBSP Chili Powder
>
> Brown in oil.
>
> Add 1 chopped onion.
>
> Cover with boiling water and simmer until tender. Uncover to cook down to
> make a gravy before serving. Taste to determine if re-seasoning is
> needed. Serve with noodles or rice.
>
> NOTE: You can also cook this in a Crock-Pot after browning the meat. Cook
> on low for 10-12 hours.
>

That's a heck of an amount of salt 1 Tablespoon ...Also the Chilli powder
as well.....Is that correct
--
Bigbazza (Barry)..Oz ?

Bigbazza wrote:
> "Rick & Cyndi" <rnchackett@verizon.net> wrote in message
> news:gH%ze.871$ao6.24@trnddc05...
>>
>> "Bob" <virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote in message
>> news:42d07f17$0$50277$bb4e3ad8@newscene.com...
>>> Cyndi wrote:
>>>
>>>> The meal was composed of:
>>>> Western Beef
>>>>
>>> What is "Western Beef"?
>>>
>>> Bob
>>> ===========
>>
>> It's basically stewing beef cooked in it's own gravy with lemon
>> juice and chili powder. Quite tasty.
>>
>>
>> Western Beef
>>
>> Mix together:
>> 3 1/2 # lean Stew Beef (I used a beef roast that I cut up)
>> 1 TBSP Salt
>> 2/3 cup Flour
>> 1/4 cup Lemon Juice
>> 1 1/4 TBSP Chili Powder
>>
>
> That's a heck of an amount of salt 1 Tablespoon ...Also the Chilli
> powder as well.....Is that correct

True, commercial chili powders contain a lot of salt. I'd cut out the extra
salt and let people salt at the table if they like.

Jill

"Rick & Cyndi" <rnchackett@verizon.net> said:

> Fried Spinach:
>
> Oil (I used Canola)
> Shortening (cheap white stuff to ensure the Canola wouldn't smoke)
> Fresh Spinach (we went through 2 pounds!)
> Salt & Pepper
>
> Pour oil and a few globs of shortening into your deep fryer.
>
> Bring temperature to 375 °F.
>
> Take handful of clean and DRY spinach - drop into fryer.
>
> Once splattering has slowed down, remove spinach and place on paper towels
> to drain.
>
> Immediately sprinkle salt and pepper.
>
> Eat!!

Thanks for posting this, Cyndi. I like fresh spinach very much. I'm going
to try this as soon as I can. Who knows? We might even see Crash eating
spinach!

Carol

Is the gang meeting over here now? <BG>

Dora

"limey" wrote in message >
> Is the gang meeting over here now? <BG>
>
> Dora

Sorry - didn't notice Cyndi's cross-posting to alt.cooking-chat, which I
replied to.
Now it makes sense.

Dora

"Bob" <virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote in message
news:42d09286$0$50250$bb4e3ad8@newscene.com...
> Cyndi wrote:
>
>>> What is "Western Beef"?
>>>
>>> Bob
>>>===========
>>
>> It's basically stewing beef cooked in it's own gravy with lemon juice and
>> chili powder. Quite tasty.
> <snip recipe>
>
> I'll have to give that a try sometime. Thanks very much!
>
> Bob -------------------

You are most welcome! I hope you enjoy it! It's a family favorite. I'm
not quite sure where Mom (MIL) got it from but she's been making since it at
least one day past forever...

Cyndi