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Show Good food, ethnic style By JEANNETTE BRANIN Copley Newt Service As Mary Poulus grew up in an Italian neighborhood in the coal-mining town of Hanna, Wyo., she never thought she might become a chef and ethnic food authority authori-ty She intended to be an opera singer, and music was the great interest in her life until she married Larry Wilde, a performer and humor writer. They had a tiny apartment apart-ment in Los Angeles and many friends. Larry loved to entertain. That was when I began to pull out family recipes," said Mary. "My father was Greek, my mother was Swedish and she had a fine collection of Danish recipes as well as Swedish." She decided to put the best recipes in a cookbook. The finished product is The Best Of Ethnic Home Cooking" by Mary Poulos Wilde, published by J P. Tarcher Inc. It has 336 pages, and is priced at $15. A "lovely and refreshing" menu for a summer picnic or backyard buffet could be Jamaican fried chicken, tropical fruit salad with chili and lime dressing, and banana ba-nana bread. These are her recipes. TROPICAL FRUIT SALAD WITH CHILI AND LIME DRESSING 2 large, ripe but firm papayas, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes 2 large greenish bananas, ba-nanas, peeled and sliced IV cups fresh pineapple pineap-ple 1 large orange, peeled, seeded, white membrane mem-brane removed and coarsely chopped cup peanut oil 3 to 4 tbsps. fresh lime juice 2 tbsps. chili powder Salt to taste Sugar to taste Combine fruit in glass salad bowl. In a blender whirl peanut oil, lime juice, chili powder, salt and sugar until smooth and thick. Pour immediately over fruit and toss gently. Chill before serving. Makes six to eight servings. JAMAICAN FRIED CHICKEN 2 fryers, 2 to 3 lbs. each, cut in eighths V4 cup dark Jamaican rum 3 tbsps. peanut oil V cup dark soy sauce 1 egg white 2 slices (one-fourth inch thick) fresh ginger, minced Flour for breading Peanut oil for frying Shortening Wipe the chicken pieces with a clean damp towel and place them in a deep, glass mixing bowL Combine the rum, peanut oil, soy sauce, egg white and ginger and pour over the chicken. Cover loosely and marinate for about two hours, turning pieces once or twice. Drain each chicken piece momentarily. momen-tarily. Roll pieces in flour and shake off excess. Fry in about 1 inch of hot oil with a little shortening added, until the chicken is tender and nicely brown on all sides. Serves six to eight. CARIBBEAN-STYLE BANANA BREAD Va cup cf butter V cup well packed brown sugar 1 egg, well beaten, at room temperature V cup Jamaican rum 1 tsp. vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted 1 tsp. baking powder Vfc tsp. soda tsp. salt tsp. grated nutmeg 1V cups mashed, very ripe bananas Vi cup coarsely chopped walnuts Vi cup white seedless raisins (optional) H cup fresh, shredded coconut (optional) Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in the egg until light and fluffy. Stir in rum and vanilla. Sift all dry ingredients together. Add to the butter-sugar mixture, alternately al-ternately with the mashed bananas, mixing well after each addition. Fold in the nuts and either coconut or raisins. Pour into a well-buttered well-buttered and floured loaf pan and spread batter evenly. even-ly. Bake in a preheated 350 . degree oven for about one hour and 15 minutes, until the bread shrinks from the sides of the pan and a straw inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for about 30 minutes in the pan, then un-mold un-mold and completely cool on a rack. Wrap tightly In plastic plas-tic wrap or waxed paper and foil. Serve at room temperature tempera-ture with plenty of sweet butter. Makes one loaf, 9x5x3 inches. |