In the Kitchen And Thinking About Mom and Dad

 

I was at Bishop's the other day and they had red peppers on sale. Whenever I see red peppers on sale I think of my Dad. He would go to Shop Rite and then I would get a call asking if I could stop by on my way home. He just could not pass up buying red peppers if they were on sale. Sometimes I would just pick up the peppers and other times he would have already roasted them. I do miss making those stops on my way home from work.

So I had to buy the peppers. I made a variation of  a recipe from Cooking with Chef Silvio book.

Roasted Peppers

Ingredients-
3 large red pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
salt and pepper
4 tbsp bread crumbs

Method-
Cook the peppers on a sheet pan at 450˚, turning frequently, until charred all around. Place them in a closed brown paper bag and let rest for 1/2 hour. You should put the bag in a bowl, there may be leakage. After a 1/2 hour take the peppers out, remove stems and seeds, and peel. Cut into 1 inch strips and place in a bowl. Add olive oil, 2 tbsp of parsley, salt, and pepper to taste. Give it a good mix.

 

Place peppers in shallow baking dish, sprinkle with bread crumbs, and bake at 400˚ for 10 minutes, or until the tops turns light brown and a bit crusty. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tbsp. of parsley and serve. These are perfect served cold in a sandwich made with Italian Bread, of course.

Tonight was book club.  I brought over dessert. I had not made my Mom's Apple Squares in a very long time.  I had a large jar of Apple Sauce from the Bishop's.

I love this recipe. The house smelled so good. Chris came upstairs and asked what I was making. Mom's baking always made the house smell so comfortable. I think I achieved that with these Apple Squares.

Eleanor Lombardi's Apple Squares

Ingredients-
Flour Mixture-
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 sticks of butter, chilled
3 egg yolks, beaten
Apple Sauce Mixture -
1 3/4 cup apple sauce
grated lemon rind
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Method-
Mix the flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Crumble in the butter. Add the egg yolks. The dough will be crumbly. 

Place 1/2 of the flour mixture in the bottom of a greased pan. I use the 8 inch Pyrex Square dish, that was the dish my Mom used. 

Mix the apple sauce, lemon, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl and spread this mixture over the flour mixture in the pan. Top with remaining flour mixture. Bake 350˚ for 45 to 60 minutes. You want a little browning along the sides of the pan and the bottom to look slightly browned. Let cool and cut into bars.