Fare Exchange: Tips on salads-in-a-jar, goulash and dinner rolls

TO REACH USFare Exchange is a longtime meeting place for people who love to cook and love to eat. We welcome both your recipes and your requests. Be sure to include precise instructions for every recipe you send.• Mailing address: Jane Henegar, 913 Mount Olive Road, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750• E-mail: chattfare@gmail.com

photo Jane Henegar

Welcome to Fare Exchange. We have four requests, two old and two new.

The search is still on for Southwest salads and favorite recipes calling for Arborio rice. And the new ones are from Lucy N. Miller: "How do you make levain bread, particularly the dense, crusty kind that is filled with walnuts and cranberries and sold at Whole Foods? Also, I want to know about an easy-to-use program or app for the computer where I can store all my recipes. I am losing those little 3-by-5 cards that I used to keep my favorite recipes on."


The final kale salad from F. Groves' recent envelope has some bite to it, the jalapeno kind of bite.

Freedom's Citrusy Kale Salad

1 avocado

1/2 jalapeno pepper, slivered

2 mangoes

Sea salt (optional)

Pepper (optional)

1 bunch kale, washed and chopped, stems removed

Cilantro leaves

Mango slices

For dressing, blend avocado, jalapeno, 2 mangoes, salt and pepper in blender until smooth.

Toss dressing into kale just before serving, and garnish with cilantro leaves and mango slices.


Lima beans seem to be a childhood-memory food and, therefore, comfort food. In our family, holiday meals always involved well-drained, cooked Fordhook limas, slathered in whipping cream just before serving. And they are mighty good cold, all stuck together by the creaminess, when the leftovers get pulled out.

Barbara Mann remembered the dish she sent this week "from earliest childhood, and there is no recipe for it but you don't really need one. My mom called it Lima Bean Stew." The non-recipe really is specific enough, so thank you for quantifying things that you learned generally, Ms. Mann.

Lima Bean Stew

1 bag dried large lima beans

2 cans chicken broth or 1 can broth and 1 can water

4 to 5 slices of bacon

8 ounces (half of a 16-ounce bag) of baby carrots

1 large onion, chopped

Bring all ingredients to a boil, then simmer until done. Check during the cooking to see if you need to add a bit more liquid. It doesn't need to be really soupy. Also, be careful with salt since the recipe contains both broth and bacon.

Variations: Add black pepper and possibly thyme for more flavor, but pure and simple is how Mom made it.

Dried limas instead of frozen limas are preferable for flavor.


Last week Elizabeth Clossin sent a short ribs recipe, and that led her to a similar topic, goulash. "I have made this Hungarian goulash quite a few times," she wrote. "It comes from 'The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook.'"

Hungarian Goulash

2 pounds beef stew meat, cut in 1-inch pieces

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped

1 large clove garlic, crushed

1 large green pepper, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups tomato juice

1 1/2 cups beef broth

1 1/2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika

1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds

4 cups hot cooked, buttered noodles

1 cup (8-ounce carton) sour cream

Combine first 4 ingredients in zip-seal bag, seal and shake until meat is coated. Remove meat from bag and reserve any remaining flour.

Brown meat in hot oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, stirring constantly until onion is tender. Cook the meat in small batches at first to get it brown, then add it all back in and then add onion and garlic. This prevents "steaming the meat."

Add remaining flour mixture, green peppers, tomato juice, beef broth, paprika and caraway seeds. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 1 1/2 hours, stirring often.

Uncover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring often. Serve over noodles with a dollop of sour cream.

Makes 6 servings.


Here is an Easter - or anytime - dinner possibility from the collection of Nancy Seale.

Buttermilk Rolls

2 packages yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 1/2 cups lukewarm buttermilk

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup oil

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add buttermilk, sugar and oil. Sift into this mixture the flour, soda and salt. Beat until smooth, and let stand 10 minutes. Pat out dough onto floured surface. Sprinkle a little flour on top to keep fingers from sticking. Use biscuit cutter to cut out 24 rolls. Place rolls on a baking pan sprayed with Pam. Let rise about 30 minutes in a warm place. You don't have to bother to cover. Bake at 400 degrees until lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Yield: 24 rolls. You can cut the recipe in half for just 12 rolls.


And finally, also from Seale's cookbook, a casserole for a make-ahead evening meal.

Con Queso Rice Casserole

1 package yellow rice

2 cans black beans

1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 pound cottage cheese (low-fat works)

1 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Cook the yellow rice according to package directions. While it cooks, open cans of beans and green chilies, and place in a colander to drain.

Chop garlic and onion. Let rice cool some after cooking.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Stir rice, beans, chilies, garlic and onion together. In another bowl, stir both cheeses together.

Grease a 10 by 14-inch casserole dish. In bottom, place a layer of the bean mixture, then the cheese mixture, then one more layer of each. End with the cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese browns. Leftovers may be frozen.


We have some food magazines around our house, most particularly Bon Appétit and Cooks Illustrated. The man of the house, who loves to know how and why things work, favors the lavishly illustrated latter. The woman of the house, who operates by grace and not by laws - not by enough law often, in fact - just wants it quick, quirky and creative. Bon Appétit is the one for that. And you, dear readers, are the ones for all parts of the spectrum. Please keep it up; your presence makes a difference.

Just a Dash...

Our correspondent today is a food service professional who tried something new for workplace lunches this week. R.R. wrote: "On Sunday night I got five quart-size Mason jars and prepared a different Mason jar salad in each one. I took one to work each day, and they worked great. You simply put two tablespoons or more of salad dressing on the bottom, followed by your favorite salad ingredients with lettuce, or anything else that is likely to get soggy, at the top. I made a buffalo chicken version for today, with buffalo sauce on top of the salad dressing, shredded chicken on top of that, tomatoes next and then lettuce. Salads should last a week, so you can make a week's worth working ahead. And here is one more tip: I found a blue cheese dressing made with Greek yogurt at Bi-Lo on Tennessee Avenue. It is Opa brand, thick and delicious, with greatly reduced calories and fat."

OK, Mason jar salad fixers. We need more recipes, more ideas. Consider yourself asked.

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