By Jane Thomson
I said to read the whole recipe before making the dish. Here are a couple of recipes that are easy to make if certain very specific instructions are followed. They are in caps here, but such details don”'t always hit you in the eye when you give a recipe the once-over.
BEER BREAD ”“ this quick bread goes with anything and is good toasted. I got the recipe from Mary Gardner, who lives upstairs in my building. She is a frequent host; also an author and teacher at the Loft Literary Center. Among other books, she has written Outlaw Biker ”“ My Life at Full Throttle with her friend, Deadeye Hayes.
Turn oven to 350 degrees. Grease an average-size bread pan very well.
12 oz. beer AT ROOM TEMPERATURE
¼ cup sugar
3 cups of “SELF-RISING” flour: no substitutions; no mixtures
Mix sugar with flour, mix in beer, pour mixture into bread pan. Bake for 45 minutes; cool on rack, turning out of pan after about 15 minutes.
TEA EGGS ”“ As served (along with many other goodies) at the 2010 Alley Annual Meeting. These eggs are easier to prepare and lower in calories than devilled eggs.
6 eggs NOT VERY FRESH, SO THEY WILL SHELL EASILY, otherwise the whole thing will be a mess. Use eggs that have been in your fridge two or three weeks after you got them from the store.
1 tbsp. black tea, or 2 tea bags
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 ½ tbsp. soy sauce
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
soy sauce for dipping
Put the eggs in a saucepan with cold water to cover, bring to a boil slowly and then simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove the eggs from the water and cool them. Tap each egg all over with the back of a spoon until it is covered with hairline cracks. Put the eggs in the saucepan again with the tea, star anise, cinnamon stick, salt, sugar and soy sauce. Cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer FOR ABOUT 2 HOURS. Cool the eggs; refrigerate them. Shell them just before serving. The original recipe (from the S”˜trib) says to cut most of the eggs into quarters, but I left them whole. They will have interesting crackly patterns on them from the spice mixture, which also gives them an interesting taste, enhanced by dipping them in soy sauce. Kind of an adult Easter egg.
