Advertisement We’re wrapping up Mari Moore’s New Villa requests today, with a few more sour cream raisin pie recipes. Elaine Natwick of Prairie du Chien shared her mother’s recipe with us, along with “a trick to grinding raisins in a food chopper — wash raisins first in hot water, then cold.” Shirley Wittenberg of Onalaska contributed a few recipes, including one “from my mom’s 1923 La Crosse Cook Book.” She further tells us, “I love the old falling apart 1923 La Crosse book. It [calls for] things like ‘butter the size of an egg.’” When following a very old recipe, you can expect to make some judgment calls — back then instructions often called for kneading the dough “until it feels just so.”
Betty M. probably thinks we forgot all about her and her Tuscany tomato soup request. But we’d never do that. I have two soup recipes today, one for a Tuscan-style chilled soup, courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens’ August issue, and the other an Italian-style tomato soup shared by an anonymous friend.
We’re continuing the search for the artichoke/pea pasta salad and the portabella mushroom/asiago cheese pasta salad, both for Susan Larkin, but I must admit my optimism is flagging a bit. Betty Barstad of Westby hopes someone out there has the recipe for a pumpkin nut muffin like St. Francis Bakery makes — “moist and richly spiced with cloves and cinnamon.” She wonders if there is a bit of prune puree in there, too, adding to the color and moistness of the muffins.
Send requests and recipes to Alice P. Clark at: Reader Exchange, c/o La Crosse Tribune, 401 N. Third St.,
La Crosse, WI 54601; e-mail: exchange@lacrossetribune.com or send a fax to (608) 782-9723.
Sour Cream Raisin Pie
1 cup chopped raisins
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
Pie crust for a double-crust pie
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients; mix well. Bake in a double-crusted pie shell 30 to 45 minutes. Makes a 9-inch pie.
(Shared by Elaine Natwick, Prairie du Chien)
Raisin Pie
1 cup chopped raisins
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 cup thick sour cream
Bake in 2 crusts. (From a 1923 “La Crosse Cook Book”; shared by Shirley Wittenberg, Onalaska)
Sour Cream Raisin Pie
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup thick sour cream
1 cup chopped raisins
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon salt
Pie shell
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine ingredients in saucepan; cook until thickened, then cool. Put in an unbaked pie shell and bake 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake another 25 minutes.
(Shared by Shirley Wittenberg, Onalaska)
Chilled Tuscan-Style Tomato Soup
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups country-style bread, in 1-inch cubes
9 medium tomatoes, cut in quarters
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
In small skillet, heat oil on medium until hot. Add garlic and cook 1 minute, stirring. Remove skillet from heat. In food processor with knife blade attached, pulse bread until coarsely chopped. Add tomatoes and garlic; pulse until soup is almost pureed. Pour into bowl; stir in chopped basil, sugar and salt. Cover and refrigerate until well-chilled, at least 2 hours or overnight. Garnish each serving with basil leaves. Makes 6 cups or 4 servings; 145 calories each.
(Good Housekeeping, August 2008)
Italian-Style Tomato Soup
3 medium onions, diced
3 stalks celery, chopped (include some leaves)
3 to 4 garlic cloves (more or less, to taste)
4 quarts cut-up tomatoes
1/4 cup sugar or honey, to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, to taste
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
Fresh basil leaves for garnish
Cover onions, celery and garlic with water and bring to a boil; add tomatoes, reduce to simmer and cook until tender. Run through food mill. Return to kettle; add sugar or honey, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Return to boil. Cream butter and flour together; slowly add to soup to thicken. Reduce heat; add water or milk to thin soup if necessary. Serve garnished with whole or chopped basil leaves. Can be frozen.
(Shared by an anonymous friend)
