Beef & Tater Squares

Another recipe from the Rhodes family in Medford, Oregon. This was a specialty of Sheri' Rhodes (now DuMond) back in her more "carnivorous" days.

1.5 lb. ground beef
1 cup soft bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup ketchup
Pinch salt & pepper

3 cups mashed potatoes
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pat the beef mixture into an 8-inch square baking pan. Bake in preheated oven for 35-45 minutes.

Top with mashed potatoes and cheese. Bake for 20 minutes more and serve.

Asian Dumplings with Curried Coconut Sauce

Mark and Sheri' DuMond in Renton, Washington rarely make Asian dumplings. Why? For the same reason they almost never make ravioli or tortellini from scratch at home. It's a lot of time and work.

However, if you're up to the challenge and have the time, here's a recipe for some veggie-tofu dumplings that are pretty good. If you prefer meat instead of tofu, you can substitute lean ground pork or chicken.

Perhaps one way to make the process easier would be to invite several friends over for dinner and let 'em labor in the kitchen, doing the busy work of assembling the dumplings or shui mai.

Makes four to six servings depending on whether it's an appetizer or main course.

8 large dried shiitake mushrooms
1/2 lb. fresh spinach leaves
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/2 lb. firm tofu, drained and pressed dry with a towel
1 Tbsp. freshly grated ginger
1 Tbsp. dry sherry
1 Tbsp. prepared oyster sauce
1 tsp. sambal oelek (spicy red chile sauce)
1 tsp. dark sesame oil

Combine all these ingredients in a food processor. Pulse it a few times until you have a coarse mixture. (You don't want to run it too much or your filling will become to liquidy.) Chill the filling mixtured for a couple hours in the fridge. Meanwhile, make your sauce:

1/4 cup rich vegetable stock
1/3 cup canned coconut milk
2 scallions, finely minced
2 Tbsp. dry white wine
1 Tbsp. prepared oyster sauce
1 tsp. honey
2 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. powdered galangal or powdered ginger

Whisk together all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and keep in the fridge until it's time to make the dumplings.

36 wonton wrappers
6 Tbsp. cornstarch

Scatter the corn starch across a large cookie sheet. Put a scant teaspoon of filling on each wonton wrapper. Fold the wrapper over filling to turn a square into a triangle. Press out as much air as possible. Using a fork, fold the edges over and crimp tightly and completely. (You don't want filling leaking out during the cooking process.) Store the dumplings on the cookie sheet while making the rest of them.

3 Tbsp. peanut oil

Heat the oil in a wide, flat non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the dumplings to the pan and fry for two or three minutes, until they're golden brown on the bottoms.

Pour in all the sauce, cover the pan, and steam the dumplings for a couple minutes more over medium heat, until they're firmed up. Remove the pan lid, put the heat back on high, and shake the pan around to keep the dumplings from sticking and to glaze them with the reducing sauce. Serve immediately.

Grilled Garlic Naan

From the Wyoming DuMonds:

No meal of Indian food is complete without naan, the classic flatbread that's traditionally cooked inside a tandoori oven. But most of us don't have a tandoori oven, so here's a simple recipe for great garlic naan you can make at home.

1 pkg. dry active yeast
2 cups warm (105-110 degrees) water
4 eggs
6 Tbsp. lowfat milk
5 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
1/4 cup sugar
8 cups all-purpose flour
6 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. salt

Combine yeast and water and set aside for about 10 minutes until foamy. Mix all other ingredients, except for the flour, in a large bowl. Wait a few minutes, then combine the two bowls of ingredients. Add in the flour a little bit at a time, mixing with your hands until it's a wet and sticky dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface, adding more flour as necessary until you have a smooth, firm dough.

Put the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise in a warm place for about an hour.

Cut the dough into a couple dozen pieces and fold each piece into a ball. Put the pieces onto a flat surface, cover again with plastic wrap, and let rise for another hour.

Roll the pieces of dough out on a floured surface into flat rounds about 9 inches across. Brush each side with melted butter and grill over medium heat for a minute or two per side, until puffy and grill-marked.

Ace's Beef Jerkey

A classic recipe from Ace DuMond in Jackson, Wyoming:

1 lb. beef (eye of round), sliced

1 Tbsp. pepper

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

1 Tbsp. salt

1 Tbsp. onion powder

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

3 dashes liquid smoke

1/2 cup warm water

Slice meat to your preferred jerkey thickness. Soak sliced meat in the mix for at least 24 hours, covered. Place slices over cake racks and put pan under to catch drippings.

Bake at 150 to 200 degrees with door ajar. Cook until meat cracks, but does not break (approx. six hours or more depending on thickness.

An Evening @ Nani's

Nani's restaurant in Jackson Hole is a truly Italian treasure. Ace & Sallie & Sheri' & Mark spent an hour at the wine bar, then had dinner. While still at the wine bar, we enjoyed a spicy dish of steamed mussels. Dinner included a veal dish, an eggplant pasta creation, orrichiette with leeks and mushrooms, and linguine with pistachios and cured olives. Way too much food, but great tastes all around. Our server, a lovely young lady named Suzanne, took the above picture.

DuMonds Gather Again in Jackson Hole

Another DuMondezvous is taking place in beautiful Jackson, Wyoming. Mark and Sheri' DuMond flew in from Seattle on Friday, and Ace, Sallie and Keaton DuMond welcomed them with a feast of Greek flavors, including spanakopita, falafels, homemade pita bread, hummus, tzatziki, tahini and wonderful greek salad.

Sunday was Mothers Day, and the DuMond crew put together a brunch with a fab Eggs Florentine (complete with fresh crabmeat) and fried spuds. Sallie, Sheri' and Mark walked off some of those calories with a hike up to the South Park Cemetery. Dinner was, as usual, a group effort, and included seafood enchiladas with poblano-tomatillo sauce (check the June 2009 cover of Bon Appetit magazine for a visual reference), Sheri's famous black beans, smoky spanish rice, along with crema mexicana, guacamole and salsa. For dessert, Sheri' made a very nice blueberry shortcake on lemon thyme biscuits.

We opened a bottle of 2002 Hedges Cabernet Sauvignon which Sheri' and Mark had personally bottled and labeled in 2003, with the intention of having it on Sheri's 40th birthday. That day came and went, so we decided to save it for a special occasion, and what could be more special than a DuMondezvous.

This gathering continues to unfold, so we'll file updates as it progresses...

A Tasty Asian Salad Dressing

Mark DuMond had a hankering for a taste of Asian, and decided to make something based on what we had on hand.

Voila -- a fresh tasting Asian dressing with distinct melding of citrus, soy, sesame and peanut. Hell, if we'd had some fresh ginger laying around, we probably would've added that too.

This is good on some simple mixed salad greens, and add whatever you like (tomatoes, cucumber, soybeans, sunflower seeds, onions, grated carrot, you name it).

2 Tbsp. peanut butter
2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
2 Tbsp. soy sauce (we use "reduced sodium")
1 Tbsp. dark sesame oil
1 tsp. sriracha hot Asian chili sauce
1 cup canola oil

Place all ingredients in a small blender or food processor and buzz well to combine. This recipe makes about a cup-and-a-half of dressing. Store leftover dressing in a tightly sealed jar and refrigerate for later use.

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