Carol Bruno

Having been brought up in Houston and living in the south and southwest and traveling a lot, Carol brings a rich blend of southern, southwestern and Italian cooking to a healthy fruit and vegetable-based cuisine. Her pies and cookies are the kind that make great family traditions.

The idea for this collection of recipes was Carol's. I guess it was her historian's mind that didn't want to lose the past. She asked if I had any of the old Bruno recipes like mom's roast leg of lamb or dad's rice pilaf or any of the thick winter soups. I started to look through my books and realized how many family recipes get lost, so this is a start for all our families and I hope we'll add to it over the years.

Recipes

ALLIE'S FUDGE

Blend together the sugar, milk, cocoa, and salt then put it on medium heat to bring to boiling, stirring constantly.
When it begins to boil, bring heat down to low and let it simmer for about 40 minutes or until a soft ball stage is formed. Stir occasionally.
Turn off the heat, let sit for about 15 minutes to cool.
Add butter and vanilla and nuts, and stir briskly.
Pour into a pre-buttered platter and cool to serve.

SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Carol likes a lot of vegetables and sometimes also adds some diced zucchini.

1 lb. ground sirloin (may vary meat according to taste)
2 10 oz. cans crushed or diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 container RAGU garden style spaghetti sauce (or flavor you prefer)
1 onion (chopped)
3 garlic cloves (minced)
1 bell pepper
2 jalapeño peppers (optional)
1 package sliced mushrooms
oregano, basil, garlic salt, black pepper to taste
Finely grated parmesan and mozzarella cheese
olive oil

Chop up onions, garlic, jalapeños, bell pepper, and mushrooms and saute with olive oil. Add ground meat and saute with the vegetables.

Season the meat with the garlic salt and pepper.

Add all the tomato sauces, basil and oregano and let simmer for 1 hour or more.

About 10 minutes before taking it off the heat, put in about 1/2 cup of the mixed cheeses.

Prepare pasta and serve with the rest of the cheese on top.

STUFFED ARTICHOKES

This is a recipe Carol found in one of Ralph's old cookbooks (that had been given to him by Tom and Susie Payne in 1991). She made some changes from that, but the book is "The Israeli Cookbook" by Molly Lyons Bar-David. The book says that it came originally from Mrs. Abbalah Mazawi, a Christian Arab woman of Nazareth and wife of a restauranteur. It has nuances of Arab flavor and is very similar to the traditional Sephardic stuffed artichoke. There is a lot of fat in this original recipe, and it shouldn't be hard to cut down if one wishes.

3 pounds young artichokes

2/3 pound margarine

2 large onions

1 1/4 pounds lamb

2 ounces pine nuts

1 Tbls. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. cinnamon

4 cups water

Remove the outer leaves of the artichokes until you get to the tender inner leaves. Remove the chokes and put the artichokes into cold water. Melt the margarine.

Lightly fry the artichokes in this fat and then arrange them on a shallow baking dish. Carol's variation on this was to break up the artichokes and spread the leaves and hearts around in a shallow baking dish.

Chop the onions and grind the meat, and then fry in the fat. Add the pine nuts, salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Fill each artichoke with this mixture. Add the swater and bake in a medium oven for 1 1/2 hours, adding more water if necessary.

Serves 6-10

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

Make a chicken stock with chicken, onion, carrots, celery, kale salt and pepper.

Cook until chicken is tender.Remove chicken and take all the meat off the bone.

1 can of canned biscuits and separate them and form them into dumplings. Add those to the stock along with a package of frozen vegetables of your choice and cook for 20 minutes longer.

POTATO SOUP

Chop up potatoes, carrots, and onions and put them in a pan. Cover with water just to cover the potatoes.

Bring to a boil.

When the potatoes and carrots get soft, add a can of evaporated milk. If you need more liquid, add a little water.

Add a cup of instant mashed potatoes and a package of frozen broccoli.

Cook until everything is very soupy.

Season to taste.

Before serving, shred some cheddar cheese on the top.

Serve with corn bread (see two recipes below)

HOT WATER CORN BREAD

The hardest part about this recipe is making patties with a batter you just made using boiling water!

Put corn meal in a bowl.
Add only enough boiling water to create a paste (so you can form patties with your hands).
Make cookie-sized patties and fry in a pan with butter.

Drain and serve with soups (like the potato soup above) or as a snack.

JALAPEÑO CORN BREAD

Carol advises cooking this a day or two before serving. If you plan to use it for a corn bread stuffing, break up the corn bread once it is made, and mix it with chopped gizzard, liver, poultry seasonings, pepper, salt, etc. Cut back to a small can of cream style corn to make stuffing.

cornbread mix
jalapeño peppers
onions
fresh cranberries (for Christmas season)
1 large can cream style corn

You can also add walnuts, mushrooms, green pepper, etc according to taste

Prepare cornbread mix as per directions on the box.

Add 1 cup finely chopped onions, 3-5 jalapeño peppers, 1 can cream style corn.

Bake a little longer than the recipe on the box says because the cream style corn makes it very moist.

CANDIED CARROTS

Cook carrots to moderate softness and place carrots in a skillet with butter and sprinkle brown sugar and some Grandma's molasses (nuts and raisins optional).

Cook on stove top stirring so carrots keep getting covered with the sauce and the sauce gets thick.

Serve.

YAM PIE

Carol adapted this from a New York Times Heritage Cookbook recipe for sweet potato pie. She uses yams because she says they have a sweeter taste when baked.

1 1/2 cups mashed cooked yams

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

2 eggs, well beaten

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup butter

1 cup hot milk

1 unbaked nine-inch pie shell

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees

Combine yams, sugar, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, eggs, and vanilla.

Melt the butter in the milk and stir into the yam mixture.

Beat with a beater until smooth. Turn into the pie shell.
Bake 10 minutes, reduce oven heat to 350 degrees and bake 45 minutes longer or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool and chill before serving. This is one pie that tastes better cold than hot.

3 cups sugar
1/4 cup Hersey's cocoa
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbls butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup nuts (optional)