Comfort Fish Chowder from Portugal

You’re right, Max. It’s always interesting to run across a recipe you think is your own that turns up in a culture far removed from yours. Stuffed Green Peppers were a summer Sunday dinner in my great-grandmother’s house. As soon as freezers came along, my family put up dozens of packages of the stuffed peppers so we could enjoy them all winter long too.

You know my dislike of fish in general, so when I recommend a fish recipe, you know it must be exceptional. This one is.

This dish was a staple of a neighbor back in Chicago. Her family were Portuguese fishermen who worked the ocean off Cape Cod and she said that this dish appeared often on the table. Her mother used whatever fish didn’t sell off the boat. I suppose it is the dill seed, bay leaf and cloves that make this Portuguese. Juana said the vermouth was often whatever was in the house, and the baking time and temperature depended on what her mother was doing at the time. Like most soup/stews, the longer and slower it cooks, the better.

Portuguese Oven Fish Chowder:

2 pounds haddock or cod fillets
4 potatoes
1 bay leaf
2 ½ teaspoons salt
2 cups boiling water
4 whole cloves
3 onions
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon dried dill seed
½ cup butter
½ cup vermouth or dry white wine
2 cups light cream

Peel and slice the potatoes and onions. Into a large, heavy casserole, place the fish, potatoes, onions, bay leaf, salt, cloves, pepper, dill seed, butter, wine and boiling water. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for about one hour. Break up the fish into large chunks. Heat the cream to scalding and add to chowder just before serving.

Brandy Flip Pie

Max, I am afraid that the heat has finally fried your brain. Calm down, girl. Get ahold of your self. Yes, I’m sick and tired of the heat too, but trust me, it is about over. In a few weeks you will forget that we were dripping like wet rag dolls, and hating to turn on the kitchen stove. I now it must be bad when you are rebelling from fixing full, thresher meals. Surely you didn’t serve that Crabmeat Olympia Hiawatha salad to your family for the main meal. It sounds more like a ladies luncheon item rather than fare for working men.

Your mentioning Fred Harvey reminded me of another one of his company’s recipes that I used to make in the heat of summer. It is a Brandy Flip Pie that was featured at his Dining Room at the Chicago Union Station once upon a time. My only encounter with Chicago Union Station was 30 years ago, and boy was it a disappointment. Shabby didn’t begin to describe it then. And the food there looked like it came out of a vending machine. Maybe it is better now?

Actually, Doctor Erma prescribes a piece of this pie as a sure cure for excessive summer heat. It is easy to fix, cold, and best of all it has 4 tablespoons of brandy! Before you start in on me and my “excessive utilization of alcohol”, think about it. I haven’t sent you a booze recipe in at least a week or two.

Trust me, dear, a little slice of this pie and you will forget all about the heat.

Brandy Flip Pie:

1 envelope of unflavored gelatin
¼ cup cold water
4 eggs, separated
½ cup sugar
½ cup milk, scalded
½ teaspoon fresh nutmeg
4 tablespoons brandy
1 baked pie shell
Bitter or semi-sweet chocolate bars (Optional)

Soften the gelatin and cold water. Beat the egg yolks with a hand whip and then combine with sugar and milk. Cook in a double boiler until the mixture coats a spoon. Remove from the heat and add the gelatin. Stir and chill until slightly thickened.

With a small mixer, beat the whites until stiff with the remaining sugar, nutmeg, and brandy. Gently fold this mixture into the thickened yolk mixture with a spatula.

Pour into a cold pie crust and chill until firm. Serve with chocolate curls made by running the long blade of a vegetable or potato peeler over the slightly warmed chocolate.

Crabmeat Olympia Hiawatha from the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad

Erma, when I was looking for my Death Valley Date Nut Bread recipe (it is in a pamphlet put out by a railroad group), I found a main meal salad that sounded really good. Plus, it fits our nasty hot weather perfectly. I don’t remember the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, but it must have run through Iowa, but if Crabmeat Olympia Hiawatha is any indication, they set a fancy table.

Finding fresh crab in the Midwest was not, and still isn’t, an easy task. Gourmet that you are Erma, you would shutter at my thought for this recipe. Just use the frozen imitation crab. It’s already cooked, and with the salad seasonings in this no one but a gourmet like you would guess the substitution. Just throw in a few chips or crackers and you have a whole meal THAT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE COOKED!!

Crabmeat Olympia Hiawatha from the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad:

1 pound cooked, fresh crabmeat
1 stalk celery
1 green onion
1 stalk parsley
1 teaspoon tarragon vinegar
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
Dash curry powder
2 cups lettuce, shredded
8 large black olives
4 dill pickles, cut into fantails
4 sprigs watercress

In a food processor mince the celery, onion and parsley to a fine chop. Place the crab, celery, onion, parsley, vinegar, and mayonnaise in a bowl and mix. Sprinkle on a bit of curry powder and again mix well.

Line 4 salad plates with the shredded lettuce. Use an ice cream scoop to make a nice mound on the lettuce. Add olives, dill pickles and watercress for decoration.

Makes 4 large salads.