Happy Holidays

Sherry Smith’ S Corn CaSS erole

from Lake Highlands resident Kerry Smith, author of leeandkerry.blogspot.com

Kerry Smith’s beloved mom-in-law, Sherry, made this dish regularly for the annual Smithfamily Thanksgiving gathering, where some 40 of her husband’s relatives gather to eat and catch up with one another. “It is my favorite holiday, and after 10 years of marriage, I think that I enjoy this gathering even more than my husband does,” she says.

Four years ago, Sherry Smith was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and she is no longer able to cook. The dish had been her contribution to the Thanksgiving gathering for 30 years; Kerry Smith decided to start making the corn casserole herself so the tradition would continue.

“Not only is it a delicious holiday dish, and easy to make, but when I make it, I think of my mother-in-law, and I think about the amazing woman that she is.”

IngredIents a 1 small onion a 4 Tbsp butter a 1/4 c flour a 2 c regular sour cream (not light or fat free) a 12 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled a 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley a 2 30-oz cans whole corn, drained a 1 tsp salt

- Sauté one small onion in 4 Tbsp butter.

- Add 1/4 c flour to make a paste.

- Add to a bowl, and mix in 2 c sour cream and half the bacon and parsley.

- Add the drained corn and salt, and top with the rest of the parsley and bacon.

- Pour into a 9x13 oven dish, and cook at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until it bubbles.

Famous Mushroom Soup

from Brian C. Luscher, chef/owner, The Grape restaurant

“I have met people from all over,” says Luscher, a Lake Highlands resident. “When they find out I am the owner of The Grape, I am most often asked ‘Do you still have the mushroom soup?’ I always reply, ‘Oh yeah! We could never take it off the menu.’ ”

What he doesn’t tell them is this recipe has been passed down through the restaurant “family” over 37 years.

Chef Michael Blackwell, whose first stint at The Grape was from 1973-1977, brought quiche and a French leaning to the restaurant’s cuisine. He perfected the mushroom soup recipe and taught it to his cooks, one of which was Hector Cruz. Some 10 years later, Cruz taught the recipe to his younger brother, Juan, a dishwasher at the time. Juan Cruz, 12 years later, passed it on to the youngest Cruz brother, Chuy, also a dishwasher at the time. Chuy Cruz is now the morning sous chef at The Grape. He is teaching the recipe to another cook there.

Ingredients

2½ lbs button mushrooms, washed and chopped (it’s easy to do in a food processor)

1 large onion, diced small

2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced

1 dry bay leaf

1 sprig fresh thyme

¼ c dry sherry (optional)

½ lb unsalted butter (2 sticks)

1 c all-purpose flour

3 qt beef broth or stock, or the equivalent made with beef bouillon cubes

2 c heavy cream

½ tsp ground nutmeg salt and pepper to taste

- In a heavy-bottomed, 6-8 quart stock or soup pot, melt the butter over medium low heat. Add the onion, garlic, bay leaf and thyme, and cook until translucent.

- Add the chopped mushrooms, and cook until most of the water comes out of them. Add the sherry, if you like, and reduce by 1/2.

Add the flour, and stir well to avoid lumps (if you do get some, it’s OK — they can be pureed out later).

-Slowly whisk in the broth or stock, and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.

- Continue to stir the soup at this point, or the bottom may scorch. When the soup comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally.

- Finish by adding the heavy cream and nutmeg, and add salt and pepper to taste. Remove the thyme and bay leaf, and puree the soup either in a blender or with a hand-held blender.

Notes: Makes 16 servings; the recipe may easily be cut in half, but it is worth making the whole batch because it freezes so well.

Cr Me Br L E French Toast

from Lynn Daniel, builder of the neighborhood’s sweetest breakfast

“My husband, Jeff, and I discovered this recipe at a bed and breakfast in Hot Springs, Ark., early in our marriage,” Daniel says. “We loved it so much, we bought a copy of the cookbook they sold of their original breakfast recipes so that we could make our home our own bed and breakfast.” The dish has since become a standard at the Daniel family home, where it’s regularly served to overnight guests and visiting relatives — especially for breakfast on Christmas morning.

Ingredients

Serves 8

1 stick or ½ c unsalted butter

1 c packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp corn syrup

8-to 9-inch round slices of French bread

8 large eggs

1½ c half-and-half

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp Grand Marnier

¼ tsp salt

- In a glass Pyrex measuring bowl, melt butter with brown sugar and corn syrup for a minute or two, stirring until smooth.

- Pour into a greased 13x9x2 baking dish.

- Cut eight or nine, 1-inch-thick slices from center portion of bread. Arrange bread slices in one layer in baking dish, squeezing them slightly to fit.

- In a bowl, whisk together eggs, half-and-half, vanilla, Grand Marnier and salt until combined well.

-Ladle evenly over bread. Chill bread mixture overnight.

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and bring bread to room temperature.

- Bake bread mixture, uncovered, in middle of oven until puffed and edges pale golden, 35-40 minutes. Serve upside down immediately.

tour stops capture our neighborhood’s character

LakeHighlands neverreallylatched on to the mcmansion trend.

It’s not that we didn’t build. We did. And big, in some cases.

but barring a few exceptions, Lake Highlandsseemstohaveavoided those obtrusively excessive footprints and specimens of uninspired architecture and cost-cutting construction that have caused problems in other parts of Dallas.

The bertafamilyhomeon Shoreview oneoffouropento tourists Friday, Dec. 3, during the LakeHighlandsWomen’sLeague Holiday in the Highlands Home Tour is an inspired example of construction, expansion and remodeling that complements rather than upsets the neighborhood mojo.

Tucked into a cul-de-sac, it’s allwindows, or at least that’s the impression a visitormightget.Withthe sun setting on an overcast day, the light emanating from within the home casts a warm glow around its little corner of the world. Somehow, the 5,765-square-footer with its footballfield-sized backyard manages to feel cozy — an adjective typically applied to humbler dwellings but nonetheless fitting.

It was that yard that really hooked the bertas, says Tracey berta, wife of Karl and mom to three boys — Koyt, 3; Jake, 8; and Addison, 10. Passing through her wide-open, wood-floored entryway, she stops at a spot “where the garage used to start”, and looks out over the back porch to a vast expanse of green space.

“We actually used to live across the street, and we were making plans to expandourhomethat,becauseour familywasgrowing,wasbustingat the seams,” Tracey berta says. “I knew something was going on over here, so I came over to check it out.”

It turned out that local realtor Jan Stellwasremodelingthehomewith plans to sell. The curious couple asked to see the plans and the layout.

“We wanted to get ideas for our own plans,” berta says. “Looking at them, I was like, ‘yeah, I want that!’” one glance at the yard, and they knew they had to have it. The remodeling and expansion was well underway when the bertas bought it from Stell, and in the final stages they worked closely with the builder to make it their own. The footprint of the home hasn’t changed since it originally was built, but the garage has been transformed into a living room, and most notably, a second floor has beenconstructedandincludesthree bedrooms, a bathroom, a playroom and a game room (yes, playroom and game

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