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Welcome to Spike's & Jamie's "Spike’s Good Eatin’ Recipe Collection Archives"!!  Here we store all the back issues of the original "Spike’s Good Eatin’ Recipe Collection" and of the "Spike’s Jewish Good Eatin’ Recipe Collection". These newsletters were written by Spike (Jann McCormick) and published by Jamie from 2000 until Spike's death in 2008.  Spike loved to cook and share her cooking with those she loved.  Sharing her recipes was the next best thing.

[Spike’s Good Eatin’ Recipe Collection]   [Spike’s Jewish Good Eatin’ Recipes] 

October 24, 2002
from: Spike's and Jamie's Recipe Collection
http://www.spike-jamie.com/

Many of these recipes have not yet been added to the recipe web site, so you are getting a "sneak peek" of future additions. We hope you enjoy these recipes. Spike's comments are in []Brackets[].

Shalom, from 
Spike the Grate & Jamie the Webmistress

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[] This one looks so awful – especially to people on a low-salt diet. However, the beef will not be salty. Please don’t ask me why. Maybe rock salt doesn’t leach out as much as regular salt, or maybe the flour and water which changes it into a crust keeps it from flavoring the beef. Maybe this is the reason you must wipe the beef before serving. Be brave: JUST SAY YES! []

ROCK SALT ROAST

1 six-pound to seven-pound standing rib roast (or other type of beef roast)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

10 cups rock salt
10 cups flour
5 cups water, approximately
(adjust these amounts according to the size of your roast)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Season the meat with pepper. Insert a meat thermometer into the middle of the thickest part of the lean muscle. 

In a large bowl or clean pail, mix together the rock salt and flour. Stir in enough water to make a mixture that just clings together.

Set the roast on its flat side and mold a one-half inch layer of rock salt mixture over the arch of bones. If the mixture has a tendency to fall off in large lumps, it is probably too wet. Either add more flour or set the mixture aside for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. A too-dry mixture will crumble. Add a little more water. Place the roast, fat side and thermometer up, in an oiled roasting pan.

Cover the entire roast with one-half-inch-thick coating of the rock salt mixture, making sure there are no cracks or holes, especially around the base. Reserve any leftover rock salt mixture.

Roast eighteen minutes per pound for rare beef, twenty-two minutes for medium, and twenty-five minutes for well done. After the first fifteen minutes of roasting time, check the roast to make sure that the coating is still intact. Repair any cracks or holes, using the reserved rock salt mixture.

Double check the degree of doneness on the meat thermometer near the end of the roasting time.

Remove roast from the oven, pierce the hard rock salt-flour shell, lift off in sections, and discard.

Wipe the entire surface of the roast carefully with a damp paper towel to remove all traces of rock salt mixture. Place roast on a warm platter.

Note: The roast will continue to cook if the hard shell is left on after roast is removed from the oven. One six-and-one-half-pound roast removed after roasting for fifteen minutes per pound reached a rare degree of doneness in twenty-five minutes with the coating left on. 

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[] If you love dates like many of us do, you will adore these cookies, in whichever form you choose to bake them. []

DATE AND NUT WHIRLS

Dough:
1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda

Filling:
1 pound dates, finely chopped or ground
1 tbsp grated orange rind
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup walnuts, chopped

To prepare dough, cream the butter and sugars together until very light and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the vanilla.

Sift the flour with the baking soda and stir into the batter to make a soft dough. Dough may be rolled immediately or chilled for easier handling.

To prepare filling, combine the dates, orange rind, granulated sugar and water in a small pan and heat, stirring, until mixture is thick. Cool. Stir in the walnuts.

Roll out half the dough on a lightly floured pastry cloth or board into a rectangle about 10 by 16 inches. Spread with half the cooled date mixture and roll from the long side like a jellyroll. Wrap in waxed paper and chill several hours or overnight. Repeat with the other half of dough and date mixture.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Slice the rolls about 1/3 inch thick and place, cut side up, on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake 15 minutes, or until well browned. Cool on a rack. Makes about 6 dozen. 

Note: If you like, roll out half the dough, spread with all the filling, roll out the other half of the dough and cover the first layer and date filling, then bake the whole thing and after it has cooled a little, cut into bars or squares. 

In the alternative, roll out the dough and cut out in circles – maybe 3 inches in diameter – then put about a tablespoon of the date mixture in the center of a circle, cover it with another circle, and seal edges with a fork. They will look like little pies. Poke a hole in the center of the top cookie (don’t poke clear through the bottom) for steam to escape during the baking. 

[] It makes me feel good just to share these cookies with you! []

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[] I saw this small article this morning in the Modesto (California Bee. Since sweet potatoes are about my favorite veggie, I read it and found the curing of it very interesting. I have always thought I knew everything, and now I see that I do not! Don’t tell my children. []

SWEET POTATOES are NUTRITIOUS VEGETABLES

Have you heard of "green" sweet potatoes? How about "cured" ones? From North Carolina to Louisiana to California, growers are "kiln-drying" their new crop of sweet potatoes to "cure" them. Well, they're not really kiln-dried. That's an old potato term still used today. You see, a newly dug sweet potato is filled with starch. These are called "green" sweet potatoes. They don't have nearly the sweet flavor that a sweet potato should have. Sweet potatoes would "cure" naturally, but it would take about two months. So growers have sped up the process by creating controlled-atmosphere storage that cures the sweet potato in about two weeks. That means, of course, sweeter sweet potatoes from the start of the season.

Sweet potatoes are the world's most nutritious vegetable. Most of California's supply comes from the Livingston area. Retail prices range from 89 cents to $1.49 per pound. For a sweet potato brochure, including some super sweet potato pie recipes, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Sweet Potatoes, c/o Your Produce Man, 2867 Heinz St., Sacramento 95826.

[] I don’t know how long this offer will last – it was published on Wednesday, September 25, 2002. []

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[] I have recently “met” (via the net) a nice woman who lives in Canada. She shared this recipe with me. She doesn’t know that I’ll have to ask Larry to drive the car over my package of chocolate wafers because I’m too lazy to roll them by hand to get the crumbs. This recipe is worth it, but it is such fun to plant the package, wrapped twice in plastic, behind the rear wheel of the car! []

BLACK FOREST CHEESECAKE

1 1/2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 tbsp unflavored gelatin
3/4 cup cold water
1 tin cherry pie filling (19 oz/540ml)
1/3 cup almond flavored liqueur, divided
1 pkg. cream cheese -- softened (250g)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 cup whipping cream, whipped
chocolate shavings and mint leaves for garnish, if desired.

Combine wafer crumbs and butter. Press onto bottom of a 9-inch spring-form pan.

Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a small saucepan; let stand 1 minute. Dissolve in microwave about 1 minute or in small pan on stove top. 

Add 1/4 cup of the gelatin mixture to the cherry pie filling, stir in 2 tsp of the almond liqueur. Pour the cherry mixture over chocolate crust, refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes or so.

Beat cream cheese and sugar together in a large bowl with mixer at high speed until light and fluffy; stir in sour cream. Add remaining gelatin mixture and remaining liqueur. Fold in whipped cream; spread over cherry base. Refrigerate until set, about 4 hours or overnight.

Remove from pan and place on serving dish. Garnish with shaved chocolate and mint leaves and perhaps a few cherries.

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[] Having had dessert, it would be good for us all to enjoy this lovely veggie: []

CAULIFLOWER WITH LEMON MAYONNAISE-CHEDDAR CRUST
Serves 6

The textures and flavor combinations in this dish make it a favorite: the baked cauliflower is coated with a golden crust of sharp cheddar cheese, underneath which is a lemon mayonnaise that is a creamy complement between the mild cauliflower and the sharp cheese.

1 medium head cauliflower (about 1 ½ pounds)
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Steam the whole head of cauliflower for 15 minutes, until barely done. Cool slightly. Combine mayonnaise, lemon juice and zest, mustard, pepper and tarragon. Spread mayonnaise mixture over cauliflower. 

Pat cheese onto mayonnaise-coated head of cauliflower and bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Cool for a few minutes to let cheese set, and slice into 6 wedges.

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[] Now that we are all well-nourished, I will take my leave. Sorry there has been such a lapse of time between this newsletter and the last one. I’ll try to be more timely next time. []

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Shalom, from
Spike and Jamie

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