My mother was a fabulous cook and hostess. She taught holiday cooking at our local temple and loved having friends over for barbecues. I put together a small cookbook of basic recipes, including both her dishes and my own. Here is a sampling of her best recipes for summer entertaining, including her secret chocolate cake recipe.
The Gottlieb-Walker Cookbook for Newlyweds
Foolproof basic recipes from the kitchens of Blanche Gottlieb and Kim Gottlieb-Walker
Simple dips/appetizers :
Onion Dip
(for potato chips and cut up veggies)
Mix sour cream with a package of instant onion soup mix and refrigerate for a few hours.
Tex-Mex Dip
Bottom layer- 1 can of refried beans spread out to cover the plate.
Next layer: mix sour cream with dry taco mix and spread in a slightly smaller circle over the beans.
Next layer: Guacamole (mashed avocados with lime or lemon juice, onion powder, salt, and pepper, and a dash of mayo),
Next layers: a scattering (or design) made of black olives, chopped tomatoes, and grated cheese. serve with corn chips
Chopped Liver
1 pound chicken livers
1 large onion
Olive oil (my mom used chicken fat “schmaltz”)
salt and pepper
Chop up and brown the onions in at least 1/2 cup of olive or safflower oil.
Then sauté the livers (I remove any fat or connective tissue first)
With the onions until cooked through
Then chop thoroughly
(You can even use an immersion blender, just don’t overdo it and turn it into paste!)
My mother liked to add a sprinkling of grated hard-boiled egg on top as a decoration. Serve with crackers or rye bread.
Delicious warm or cold.
The Best Potato Salad Ever
Use white rose or red potatoes, NOT russets.
Scrub 5 or 6 large potatoes and put them in a pot. Cover with water, bring to a boil, then simmer until just fork-tender.
While they are cooking, make the sauce:
1 cup of mayonnaise
1/3 cup mustard (I like Guildens)
A tablespoon of onion powder
2 tsps dill weed.
Salt and pepper. mix well.
When the potatoes are fork-tender, cut them into tiny chunks and toss them (while still HOT) in the sauce—taste to see if it needs more of anything. Add chopped bits of bell pepper for color and crunch. Delicious both hot and cold.
The Best Coleslaw
Thinly slice 1 very heavy head of cabbage into very skinny strips (a food processor can do this quickly and easily…by hand, it is a very slow process) and squeeze the shredded cabbage by hand until thoroughly coated with this sauce:
1 cup mayonnaise
The juice of a large lime or lemon
Two tablespoons of sugar
A tablespoon of onion powder
A dash of garlic powder
A dash of olive oil
About a tsp of finely crushed dried basil
1/2 tsp dry mustard (optional), salt, and pepper.
Add grated carrot, cut-up bell pepper, and celery for color and variety.
Taste to see if it needs more of anything. Refrigerate
Roasted Asparagus
Put some olive oil, onion powder, and seasoned salt in a big baggie.
Clean and dry the asparagus, then break off the thick ends of the stems and discard them.
Put the asparagus in the bag and coat well with the olive oil mixture.
Spread out on a baking sheet in a single layer and roast in a hot oven (400 degrees) for ten minutes. Check for the desired degree of doneness. They should get a little bit crisp.
Basic Picnic Chicken
Combine in a large baggie 1 crushed package of dry onion soup mix and 1/2 cup flour. Shake the chicken pieces one at a time in the bag, then lay them on a rack in a roasting pan. Spay with oil and cook at 350 until done (45 minutes to an hour). Good both hot with mashed potatoes and cold with potato salad.
Salmon
To BBQ
Buy a 1 1/2 pound tail end piece of salmon filet.
Coat the top with a mixture of equal parts brown sugar, mustard, and lime juice.
BBQ the skin-side down for 10 minutes, until it flakes easily. To make it really impressive, cover it with thin, overlapping cucumber slices to look like fish scales. Serve with salmon sauce:
Sauce For Salmon
2 parts Mayo to 1 part mustard, a little lime or lemon juice & a teaspoon of onion powder.
This can also be mixed with any leftover cooked salmon to make a delicious salmon salad.
Dessert
Blanche Gottlieb’s World Famous Chocolate Tia Maria Cake
Warning: This is the best chocolate cake on the face of the earth…it has been likened to crystalline acid in the burst of pure sensual pleasure it provides. This recipe may not be copied and given to others – it is a family secret.
You may only make it if, when you serve it, you announce quite clearly that.
“This is Blanche Gottlieb’s secret recipe Chocolate Kalua (or Tia Maria) Cake – do not ask for the recipe as it is not available to the public.”
You will need:
1 package dark chocolate cake mix (Duncan Hines is good)
1 small package instant chocolate pudding mix
Mix together with 4 beaten eggs.
3/4 cup safflower oil
3/4 cup strong cold coffee
Beat together well and pour into an ungreased angel food cake pan.
Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean)
While it is baking, mix together:
1 pound of powdered sugar
2 T melted butter or margarine
3/4 of a cup of liquid made from a combination of black coffee
and either Kalua or Tia Maria liqueur
When you remove the cake from the oven, while still very hot, take a shish kabob skewer or an ice pick and stab the cake, still in the angel food pan, with 100s of little holes – then pour the liquid over it so it all soaks in. Refrigerate.
When cold, slide a knife around the edges to release it and turn it onto a plate.
Serve with whipped cream or Cool Whip.
Note To Newlyweds:
Use of this recipe automatically causes any children of this union to become godchildren of the Gottlieb-Walker family.
Any violation of the above-mentioned rules will cause the immediate forfeiture of said children to the custody of the aforementioned Gottlieb-Walker Family.
Don’t forget Blanche’s credit… it is part of her immortality.
You can find these and other recipes on my author website.
https://www.caterinabymoonlight.com
Under “More”- “Fabulous Recipes”
Kim Gottlieb-Walker was a photographer for 50 years before writing her debut novel, “Lenswoman in Love – a novel of the 1960s & ’70s,” based on adventures from her colorful career. It has now won over a dozen awards and rave reviews, and makes a great summer read!
This was written by our contributing writer, Kim Gottlieb-Walker.
Image Sources:
Image Source: Pexels
The photo of Blanche Gottlieb was provided to us by Kim Gottlieb-Walker.
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