Let's Get Started!

My name is Gail Hummel. I wish I could say that I had been named after someone exotic, glamorous or famous. In truth, I was named after a home economics teacher my mother knew. But, at least I wasn't a boy. If I'd been a boy, I would have been Donald. No offense intended to you Donalds out there, but when I think of Donald, Trump is not the first name that pops into my head. It's Duck.

I call this Gail's Galley, because I like alliteration and Hummel's Hazardous Hashhouse didn't sound like a winner for a cooking column. This is a humorous, adventurous exploration of that room called the kitchen. We all have one. It's that room next to the dining room. It seems as though more people like the dining room than the kitchen. My goal is to get more people into both rooms.

I've been messing around in the kitchen for more years that I can remember. I started out like most little girls - watching Ma make dinner for the family and Grandma make big holiday feasts. From them, I learned how to take a handful of this and a pinch of that. I learned how to follow recipes in 4H. However, I soon learned that there is more to cooking than a handful of this, a pinch of that or a recipe. There's adventure - "Let's explore the refrigerator.". There's mystery - "How will this taste?" There's FUN!

This will not be the typical "cooking column". Personally, I don't like most cooking columns or cookbooks. They may be healthy or unhealthy; gourmet or just plain cookin'; simple or involved. However, they all have one thing in common - deadly BORING.

This column will sometimes be healthy and sometimes unhealthy; sometimes gourmet and sometimes just plain cookin'; sometimes simple and sometimes involved. However, I promise you that it will NEVER be

BORING. If it is, you can write me and complain. My address is: Gail Hummel, PO Box 370545, Montara, CA 94037.

For my first issue, I am providing you with one of my most requested dinners - Company's Coming Sunday Dinner.

Chicken Stuffed with Spinach and Wild Mushrooms
Serves 6.

6 chicken breast halves --
boneless
1 bunch spinach -- coarsely
chopped
1 small onion -- finely
chopped
1/2 ounces dried mushrooms
1/2 cup white wine
2 whole eggs -- beaten
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/8 teaspoon marjoram
salt
ground pepper
olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour

Rehydrate mushrooms in 3/4 cup of warm water. Squeeze excess water from mushrooms and chop into small pieces. Save mushroom water. Sauté onion in a small amount of olive oil. When onions start to become translucent, add spinach, mushrooms, water from mushrooms and white wine. Simmer until spinach has wilted. Drain mixture through a sieve into a bowl. Press mixture to force out excess liquid. Reserve liquid for sauce. Cool mixture for 10 minutes. Add beaten eggs, bread crumbs and spices and mix until well blended.

Loosen skin from chicken breast by inserting finger between skin and breast meat. Spoon dressing into cavity made between breast and skin. Do NOT overstuff. Place stuffed chicken in a shallow baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven until chicken is fully cooked (45 minutes to 1 hour depending upon size of chicken breasts).

While breasts are baking, prepare a sauce. Create a roux by melting 2 tablespoons of butter in a small skillet. Add 2 tablespoons of flour and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Butter/flour mixture should bubble lightly. Stir continuously to prevent burning. Add liquid reserved from cooked spinach mixture. Simmer over medium heat until desired thickness is achieved. Spoon over baked chicken breasts.

Glazed Carrots and Apple
Serves 6.

6 carrots -- sliced 1/4" thick
1 apple -- sliced 1/4" thick
1/4 cup onion -- sliced 1/8"
thick
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch salt

Gently steam or microwave carrots until slightly tender. Melt butter in a heavy bottom sauté pan. Add onions and apples. Sauté over low heat until onion starts to become translucent. Add carrots, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Continue to sauté until mixture becomes slightly thickened. Take care not to burn butter/sugar mixture or over-cook carrots and apples.

Saffron Rice Pilaf
Serves 6.

1 cup rice
1 can chicken stock
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 small onion -- finely
chopped
1 clove garlic -- finely
chopped
4 whole mushrooms -- sliced
1/4 cup green peas
1/8 teaspoon saffron
salt

Combine ingredients and place in an oiled 2 quart baking dish. Bake covered 30 to 35 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven.

COPYRIGHT: Gail Hummel Ptacek retains all rights to Gail's Galley. The above issue of Gail's Galley is 1995 by Gail Hummel Ptacek. The reproduction or use in any form of the above in whole or part without permission of Gail Hummel Ptacek is prohibited.