Gazpacho a la Ybarra

(a Basque recipe from Jewel Recipes)
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic
2 slices white bread, broken in pieces
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup Spanish olive oil
salt and pepper
2 pounds fresh fully ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 1 pound, 12 oz can tomatoes, sieved
1/4 cup grated or finely minced onion
1/4 cup minced canned pimiento
2 cups ice water
2 tablespoons wine vinegar

Garnishes:
3 or 4 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
1 cup finely diced cucumber
1 cup croutons, fried until crisp in olive oil
1 green pepper, minced
1 cup minced cold cooked chicken, or 3/4 cup each chopped canned shrimp and minced cooked veal

Crush garlic in bowl or put through garlic press. Add bread, water, olive oil and teaspoon salt. Let stand several hours or overnight. Add tomatoes, onion and pimiento and beat in electric blender or mixer until pureed. Keep mixture chilled until ready to serve, then add ice water, vinegar, and, if needed, additional salt and pepper to taste. Serves 8. Pass assorted garnishes in small bowls, to be added to gazpacho as desired.

Oyster Chowder

(from Jewel Recipes)

4 tablespoons butter
3 carrots, diced
3/4 cup celery, diced
3 tablespoons onion, diced
Salt and pepper
1 can frozen oysters (how big a can?)
1 cup white wine
Pinch of thyme
2 cups potatos, finely diced
1 quart milk

Heat butter in a kettle and saute carrots, celery and onions until barely tender. Add salt and pepper to taste, cover the kettle, and cook the vegetable mixture 5 minutes. Add the liquor from thawed oyster, wine and thyme; bring the liquid to a boil and add potatos. Cover and simmer until the potatos are tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in milkk, bring the liquid to boiling poit, add the oysters and poach until their edges curl. Garnish the chowder with parsley flakes and serve with toasted French bread and a green salad.

Someone Else's Grandma?

I found some old cookbooks that caught my fancy at a Friends of the Library book sale. One of them is Jewel Recipes from the Gem State, written by the Officers' Wives Club of Mountain Home AFB, 1965. These recipes were definitely contributed by somebody's grandma. It's interesting to find stuffed in between its pages, some recipes clipped from the New York Times and other publications, that must have caught the owner's fancy, and been saved to prepare later. Fun stuff.

Homemade Tortillas

3 cups unbleached flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup warm water


Form into large ball, divide into 16 small balls, roll out
Cook for 30 seconds per side on medium heat.

Grapefruit Basil Granite

For Oysters, and from Oysters, by Cynthia Nims


1-1/2 cups freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon finely minced basil
2 teaspoons sugar


In a small bowl, stir together the grapefruit juice, sugar, vinegar and basil till the sugar is dissolved


Freeze and stir the mixture in a shallow pan, allowing it to freeze around the edges, and repeatedly breaking up the solid bits with a fork until it all has a coarse-snow texture


Tops approximately 4 dozen oysters