Nantucket Clam Bake Recipe

From a copy of the community cookbook of the First Congregation Church of Nantucket, Massachusetts

Royal Presence

It always amazes me and I love to look through these older recipe collections.  Although this book is not all that old, there are old recipes inside. 

Mayo's Duck Farm, Orleans, MA Cape Cod Recipes

Tomorrow is the anniversary of my mother's death.  When she passed away, I just browsed and browsed through her recipes.  She was a wonderful mother and a true from scratch cook and baker.  She amassed many recipes and these are from Mayo's Duck Farm, which was in Orleans, MA on the way to Nauset and a real old-fashioned slow food community unto itself.  There's a great write up in the wicked local section of the paper on Mayo’s Farm Kitchen, a lunch spot, bakery and catering, recalling Old Orleans. 


I have in my own Treasured Recipes cookbook, a recipe from there, acquired by my Mom.  My aunt Jo-Jo and her were great at getting the recipes from restaurants and the locals.  Ah, that was back in THE day!

Here are recipes for Lemon Meringue Pie and Applesauce Squares:  Please let us know if you enjoy these old-fashioned recipes.  Vaya con Dios.

and the reverse side of the Applesauce Squares:

Orleans on Dwellable

Making toast in a cast iron frying pan

A different and delicious way to make toast to accompany soup, salad or pasta is to
toast in the frying pan. 

Great Old Recipes on Pinterest Make sure the cast iron pan is hot, drizzle olive oil in the pan, sprinkle in some fresh minced garlic, garlic powder or other seasoning.  Tonight, I just used a teensy bit of celery salt.

Put your bread slices down and let it cook and absorb the olive oil, let brown as if you were making
a grilled cheese sandwich.  When brown on the bottom, turn and let the other side brown.  Awesome. 
The more olive oil you use, the more flavor will be picked up by the bread.  Enjoyed tonight with homemade beef stew.
Great for dunking, good to make bruschetta.  If you are making for a large crowd, just keep those that are
done on the oven rack, warm setting. 

Another delicious method of making toast is to put in the oven under the broiler, (do not use oil, just put the bread on the rack, plain)   Brown, turn over, take out of the oven and add butter.  Delicious but not as healthy as
the pan toasting. 

Spaghetti con salsa di Pomodorie e Mele

 Occasionally, straying from the New England Recipes, I find some delicious recipes, such as the Spaghetti with Tomato Apple Sauce. 

This is a nice dish for a hot summer evening. The recipe is from Lidia's Italy.
Sunday's lunch/dinner was inspired by the TV show episode.
Lidia made Spaghetti with Tomatoes and Apples.  It is fabulous and I really like the celery
tomato, onion and apple combination.
It's made with canned tomatoes, of course you can use fresh tomatoes if you have them.
I used the thin spaghetti.

"3 cups canned Italian plum tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large celery stalks, cut into 1/4-inch dice (about 1 cup)
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 pound apples, tart and firm, such as Granny smith
1 pound spaghetti
1 cup Grana Padano, freshly grated, plus more for passing."

Pour the canned tomatoes into the food processor or blender, and purée until smooth.

Pour 4 tablespoons of the olive oil into the skillet, set it over medium heat, and strew the chopped celery and onion in the pan. Cook and stir the vegetables for about 5 minutes, until they wilt and start to caramelize.

Stir in the puréed tomatoes, season with the salt, and heat to a bubbling simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or so. As the tomatoes perk, peel and core the apples, and remove the seeds. Shred them, using the coarse holes of the shredder or grater.

When the tomatoes have cooked about 5 minutes, stir the apples into the sauce. Heat again to a simmer, and cook the sauce, uncovered, for about 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until it has reduced and thickened and the apple shreds are cooked and tender.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil, drop in the spaghetti, and cook it until barely al dente. Lift the spaghetti from the water, let drain for a moment, and drop it into the warm sauce. (Reheat, if necessary.)

Toss pasta with sauce for a minute or two, until all the strands are coated and perfectly al dente. Turn off the heat, sprinkle the grated cheese over the pasta, and toss well. Drizzle over it the remaining olive oil, toss once again, and heap the pasta in warm bowls. Serve immediately, passing more cheese at the table."

How to make Old Fashioned Bread & Butter Pickles

Making Bread and Butter Pickles

 This is an old family recipe that I still use today.  Many of you may follow a similar approach. This recipe uses turmeric, mustard seed, vinegar, celery seed and cloves.  First you slice the cucumbers very thin and add ice cubes and salt, then let stand for 3 hours. 

The recipe is here:

Fruits of the season in the small garden

Within two months of starting the little garden I created for home use and canning, seems to be flourishing and
struggling.  With lots of erratic periods of rain and then hot weather, it needs a little maintenance, water and weeding.  See the beginning of the the plot for the garden started in May, around the 12th or so.  It's now, almost 2 months. 

I had to repot the cherry tomato plant into a larger vessel and it is growing still out of control. I've picked about a dozen of the little tomatoes that I'm using to eat right off the vine and in salads.

The other tomato plants in the bed are doing great, with some cucumbers behind them that you cannot see.  I'm starting to train them up the fence and have a cucumber if you can see it in the photo.  These are the pickling cucumbers, so I hope to make a batch of dill and bread and butter pickles. 

I added a potted plant of rudbeckias that I put at the end of the driveway.  Behind the plant is a small pot of yellow and green bush beans.  There are actually a few beans starting.  I'll take a picture of those when I get a few more visible beans!  Also added a few more basil plants that are amongst the weeds in a container beside the actual garden, along with some rosemary.  I lost a lavender plant and the dill is doing okay, but not great.  During the spell of heavy rains, some plants unfortunately were not saved.  Learning all the time, it is fun and a great way to de-stress after a day's work.


I hope in August I can actually put some up as they say.