Today, though, the scent is the Self Clean cycle on the oven. The guys are at their dad's house, and I am dealing with the chicken casserole that boiled over in the oven Thursday. It is good that my little students give me lots of fragrant soaps, lotions, and candles at Christmas time, so I can cover up the scent of baked-on cheese. I'm much better at being the Cool Color Fairy than I am at being Becky Home-Ecky.
During my short trip to Nebraska I did a lot of cooking and freezing food to fuel my dad and tease my mom's tastebuds. I made a beef stew with carrots, parsnips, celery, peppers, green beans, peas, and potatoes in a tomato/molasses sauce. My grandma used molasses in her goulash and in her odd, delicious baked "chop suey" oven casserole. We would arrive at her house late on a snowy afternoon while she was still at work at the library. The kitchen windows would be all steamy, and there would be that savory, meaty, molasses, earthy root vegetable bass notes, and sweet'n'sour aroma. Because I was a very big girl, I would walk the block on the crunchy, snow-covered, wavy brick sidewalk, and climb the scary, steep, icy steps to the Pierce Library to tell my librarian grandma we had arrived.
This is Halma's recipe for Chop Suey:
1 lb. veal, lean pork, or baby beef, cut up in small cubes. Brown meat in a heavy skillet in 3-4 T butter. Add 2 T flour and blend, then add 2 tsp. salt and 1 cup hot water. Stir and cook until thickened. Add another cup of water, 1 1/2 T molasses, 1 T soy sauce, 1 cup diced celery, 1 cup diced onion, 1 can bean sprouts, 1 can mushroom pieces, and 1 can water chestnuts. Bake in the oven about 1 hour. Serve over boiled rice, with chow mein noodles and soy sauce. Serves four.
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