Okay, so I typed in Reubens before Jaime . . . so what?

As I was putting in recipes this morning, I felt more inclined to grab the Russian sauce recipe than the Thai salad dressing. So sue me. I told Aunt Barbru I'd post it anyway. Note to her - just omit the horseradish and you'll get what you ate a couple of weeks ago (love you!). I've gotta remember to stick them in the toaster oven, they're so much nicer and crispier. Anyway, here's our Reuben menu:
Reuben's with Russian Sauce
Creamy Veggie Soup (usually doubled or tripled)
Pickles for everyone
Chocolate Almond Torte with Strawberry Sauce.

So here goes.

Reubens with Russian Sauce
Reubens influenced by internet research
Russian Sauce from The Joy of Cooking

Rye bread (we like dark)
Russian Sauce (see below) - half a recipe will cover 4 sandwiches, it’s a good dipping sauce too
Corned Beef (freshly deli sliced is worth the extra cost) - about 6 oz. per sandwich
Sour sauerkraut (jar, not can, and drained really well - we weight it down on top by putting as many cans as we can in a bowl pressing it down through the strainer) - be very generous. We use about 3/4 of a big jar on 4 sandwiches
Swiss cheese (deli is best, but hey, we’re all on a budget) - about 3 or 4 slices per sandwich
Butter

Serve with Creamy Veggie Soup and a dill pickle (one’s enough)

Russian Sauce:
Combine:
1 cup mayonnaise
*2 Tbs grated horseradish
*2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup chili sauce *and* ketchup *combined *(if wanted hotter more chili to ketchup ratio, if milder . . )*
*2 tsp grated onion
*a few Tbs chopped parsley
*they also list caviar as optional. We’re not that free with our food money yet, but we’d love to try it.

1. I lay out all the bread and do the same thing to each slice (so your Reuben ends up Palindromic - bread, sauce, beef, cheese, sauerkraut, cheese, beef, sauce, bread). Be generous with the sauce. About two or three slices of corned beef on each slice. About 2 slices of swiss, then pile on the kraut.
2. Slap those suckers together. Butter generously one side of the bread and put the sandwich, butter side down on a preheated grill. Do with all the sandwiches you can fit on your grill, butter side that’s up at the time and try to flip only once.
3. Put in an oven or in a toaster oven on toast to make sure the sauce and juice of the kraut don’t make the bread soggy and finish melting the swiss, making for a nice, crispy, melted, delectable Reuben. Enjoy with your soup and pickle. The Chocolate Almond Torte with Strawberry Sauce is a great dessert for this meal (and kosher too).

Creamy Vegetable Soup (For Reubens)
From The Joy of Cooking

2 Tbs butter
1 1/4 Tbs flour
1 1/2 c. vegetable stock *chicken stock*
1/2 c. cream or stock *whatever on hand, we usually use milk*
*1 1/2 - 2 potatoes (midsized) diced and steamed
*3 carrots diced and steamed
*1/2 c. corn - frozen works
*1 onion, sautéed well
2 Tbs. chopped parsley

1. Melt butter, add and stir flour until blended. Add and stir stock until smooth.
2. Bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes. Lower the heat and add: cream or stock and steamed vegetables.
3. Heat thoroughly. Don’t boil if adding cream *(It makes a skin on top)* Parsley is a garnish. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Chocolate Almond Torte with Strawberry Sauce
From Christina’s searching on the internet for Passover recipes

1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup margarine, softened
4 eggs, separated
2 1/4 cups almonds, sliced, blanched
7 oz. unsweetened chocolate

Sauce:
2 cups strawberries, frozen, unsweetened
1 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 300.
2. Line the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan with wax paper; grease paper. With blender, mix sugar and margarine until fluffy. Add egg yolks. In a food processor, process almonds and chocolate until finely ground. Stir into sugar mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Mix 1/3 whites into batter. Gently fold in remaining whites. Spread batter into pan, smoothing top. Bake about 1 1/2 hours, until top springs back. Cool for 10 minutes before releasing.

Sauce: thaw and puree 2 cups frozen unsweetened strawberries. In small saucepan, combine 1 cup sugar and puree. Simmer 3 minutes. Cover and cool.

Place sauce on plate. Place torte on top. Garnish with fresh strawberries.

Have fun!

First Recipe

I have to admit that this is the first recipe to go up because it's already typed in. We have it with a great Thai salad from Jaime Oliver's book "The Naked Chef Takes Off," and white rice. Jaime's recipe to follow soon. Comments between the *s are our modifications.

Thai Chicken Soup with
Coconut Milk and Galangal
by Otti Kiraly

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 shallot (thinly sliced)
1/2 teaspoon garlic (minced)
1 tablespoon lemon grass (minced)
1 tablespoon dried red chili flakes, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground chili pasts, or to taste
1 (1-inch) section frozen or fresh galangal (thinly sliced and bruised with the back of a knife) *we use dried because its so hard to find fresh out here in Utah. We get ours at Chao's (asian supply store between 100 and 200 North on University Ave), but I've seen in in Indian supply stores too.*
3 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons fish sauce, or to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups unsweetened coconut milk *we use 2 cans*
1/3pound chicken breasts or thighs (cubed)
1 cup straw or white mushrooms
1 cup red ripe tomato (cubed)
1/2tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 kaffir lime leaves (cut in half)
6 fresh cilantro sprigs (chopped, for garnish)

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat until moderately hot. Add the shallot, garlic, lemon grass, chili flakes, and chili pastes and brown slightly, about 30 seconds. *we put in any chili after the chicken broth. It's not as fragrant – but then again – with chili we found fragrant more often translates into eye burning fumes throughout the house. *
2. Working quickly and without burning the spice, add the galangal, chicken stock, fish sauce, sugar, and coconut milk.
3. Bring to a boil and add the chicken, mushrooms, and tomato.
4. As soon as it comes to a second boil, turn off the heat and add the lime juice and lime leaves and serve immediately. Garnish with the cilantro.

Optional: For a richer broth, increase the proportion of coconut milk to chicken stock. For a thinner broth, reduce the ratio of coconut milk to chicken stock. Or, substitute regular, lowfat, or nonfat cows’ milk for the coconut milk. Advise guests not to eat the galangal and lime leaves—they are for flavoring only. *Otti also told us the last time we visited that if you cut out the chicken broth it becomes a curry to pour over rice instead of a soup. We haven't tried it ourselves yet, but it sure sounds yummy. *

Joe's second sonogram pictures

I swear we're not going to let the little guy take over, but he's so cute! He's a lot bigger than before - 4 lbs and something (I forgot). We can't convert the VHS tape with what we've got up here, so we'll wait on seeing more video. They were one tech short anyway that day and rushed us through after being late. So the video isn't as fun, but still more fun than flying blind. The best news is that his thyroid isn't enlarged, which means my thyroid antibodies haven't done him any harm.

Food

If you know us even a little, you know we love to cook. We hope to soon put up some of our recipes from menus we've been developing lately. We'll try to give credit where credit is due, but we tend to tweak everything until we get it just how we like it, so friends – don't be surprised if we say we got it from you and it's just a little different here and there. Mostly we're working on dinners, but maybe we'll throw in a breakfast or something now and then. Until then, just know that this post is an effort at getting more stuff up on the blog. Then it really can be Christina and George's blog, not little Joe's blog ( . . . at least, until he shows up, . . . then he'll probably take over again).