Savory Tales

Julia Child wasn’t the only “Julia” who could cook.  Learn what our friend Jan Reichel’s Grandma Julia taught her to make during visits to Block Island!

Photographer Cindy Wilson captures Block Island's charm. See more of her photographs - www.cindywilsonphoto.com

Julia was born on Block Island in 1904.

Jan’s great grandfather Matthew Stillman Barber owned the Shore Diner, a restaurant on Block Island from 1900 to 1916.  Imagine a whole meal for 50 cents and that included the watermelon for dessert!

Another family member was a cook on a cargo schooner, in the late 1890 to 1900. He also worked as a chef in Florida in the winter and in Rhode Island in the summer.

The Barber family also owned an ice cream parlor in the 1900’s. They manufactured vanilla and bottled it under the Barber name.

The stuffed shrimp recipe is just one of many foods made by Jan’s grandma Julia such as clam cakes, johnny cakes (fried white cornmeal cakes), dough bats (fried bread dough served with syrup), clam chowder and quahog pie

Jan says, “My grandma was a total foody. She would be talking about the next meal and we hadn’t even finished the one we were eating. At Thanksgiving, right after dinner she would come around with a tray of ground turkey and mayonnaise sandwiches, with the crust cut off and cut into fours diagonally. After breakfast I would smell her starting to cook her american goulash, the onions, the beef, etc. Each morning I would smell the bacon coming up to meet me as I came down the stairs.”

This Block Island Stuffed shrimp recipe is easy and simple yet packed with flavor. The stuffing can also be used on Lobster or other types of fish…it’s yummy!

Block Island Stuffed Shrimp Recipe

1 Sleeve Saltines - Crushed
1 1/2 sticks Butter
2 tsp. Coleman’s Dry Mustard

Spray a foiled pan. Place shrimp together tail to tail (looks like a yin-yang shape)
Put buttered crumbs on top of the shrimp
Sprinkle with Paprika

Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes (or more depending on the size of the shrimp)
As Jan mentioned, this stuffing is good on Lobster as well. Of course, anything on lobster is good!

We thought it’d be fun to highlight the recipes that should never be handed down from generation to generation.  So that’s why there’s a page on our blog called Unsavory Tales.  This wasn’t planned but the first story and recipe includes that special food group called Spam.  Take a look…perhaps your mother or grandmother subjected you to that special meal. If you’re really a sadist you could try out the recipe for you and your family.

We have to promo the next recipe and story that we’ll hopefully post on the Unsavory Tales page  before the next millennium (please stay with us, we’re just getting going) as being extremely funny and unique.  It’s an original recipe that a couple of friends developed all on their own.  When you see it, you might question whether they had too much time on their hands one day but that’s what makes it so much fun!  Keep a look out for the Spog!

Of course, on our home page we will continue to bring  fabulous stories and recipes that should be passed on for generations to come!

I’m still waiting for my backyard tomato plants to bear fruit. In the meantime, Katherine continues with the story of her mothers’ stuffed tomato recipe. In Michigan, August and September offer an abundance of fresh, vine ripened tomatoes. There’s no more perfect time to try your hand at these fantastic Greek stuffed tomatoes.

Katherine’s family is from Greece and she spent an afternoon in the ST Kitchen (it’s really the Canapé Cart kitchen - www.canapecart.com - but ST has borrowed it for the video) telling Kathleen and I the story about her mother’s original Greek stuffed tomatoes.

Katherine Zikakis’ Stuffed Tomatoes Recipe:

Invite lots of friends and family over when making this recipe.

18 firm red tomatoes

3.5 pounds of ground chuck

4 large cooking onions

2 cups of uncooked rice

salt and pepper to taste

½ t. of butter for each tomato

½ cup of olive oil

½ cup breadcrumbs

Directions [...]

I think it was the jellied texture in the heart of the tomato that made me detest them when I was young.  The turning point came in my 20’s when I tasted a tomato picked right off the vine from my first garden.  I couldn’t believe it!  It was sweet, full flavored and I’ve eaten them ever since.   Posted by Kathy