TODAY's CASES:

• Olive Walnut Pesto
• Holly's by Golly
• Morrison's Dumplings

Olive Walnut Pesto From: Anita Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2014 1:12 PM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com Subject: Recipe search request Hello, I am hoping you can assist in tracking down an olive tapenade or pesto recipe from a restaurant that is now closed. The Italian restaurant was called Davio's Italian Grill. I have looked and googled and searched and even attempted to make it on my own. The owner never gave out the recipe but I know it at least contained: Olives - Kalamata? Parmesan cheese (real not powder) Olive oil Fresh Garlic Maybe black pepper? And there was some kind of a crunch to it – like chopped walnuts? Pine nuts? Chunks of something nut colored along with the chopped garlic was in the mix. After that I get stumped. It doesn’t taste the same. In my attempts searching online I have found lots of recipes but they all seem to add ingredients I know aren’t in the recipe like - lemon juice - anchovies - tomatoes - cream cheese. - basil This wasn’t creamy or a paste – it was chunky (minced chunks) and oil based. I will keep looking and if I find it I will email again. Anita Hello Anita, While I had zero success finding a recipe for Davio’s in Westminster, I did find their menu here: Davio's Italian Grill Menu Looking at their menu it appears that you are talking about their “Olive Walnut Pesto”. I did find a couple of recipes for olive walnut pesto. You might be able to approximate Davio’s pesto by starting with these and adjusting the ingredients (chop the walnuts, use parmesan cheese instead of romano, etc.) Olive Walnut Pesto Parsley Black Olive Walnut Pesto I’ll post this on my site in the hopes that a reader can assist with the actual Davio’s recipe. Phaed OMG – you are AMAZING!!!! I will try these out this week and will email back!! Thank you!!!!! Regards, Anita Holly's by Golly From: donna Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2014 2:49 PM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com Subject: recipes Hi! You found recipes for me in the past; I have another request for two hamburger recipes. The second was a burger called, I think, the Continental, served at Holly's By Golly in Grand Rapids, Michigan. it had gooey cheese & mushroom sauce in the center and was served on a rye bun. Would love it if you could locate these. Thanks!! Donna Hi Donna, Sorry, no success with this. “Holly’s by Golly” closed in 1989. See: Blog.Mlive Phaed Hi Phaed, Saw the request from someone looking for a burger that was at the old Holly's by Golly in Michigan. Still looking for info on that specifically, BUT, did find another Holly's Restaurant in Indiana that used to be a Holly's by Golly but has been at that location in Indy since it opened and been renamed. Now they do have an Angus Beef burger with the following description which I called out there and verified with a server: Patty Melt A big 1/2 lb. burger topped with grilled onions and Swiss cheese served on rye bread. The server said it was a "sauce" of the onions and Cheese and is served on Rye Bread, not a bun. Don't know if that helps any, but will keep trying - Rye Buns for food service is a hard item since they do seem to get stale quickly according to some restauranteurs I know. Good Luck, Mark R. in NJ Morrison's Dumplings Jay sent this recipe, which was printed in the New Orleans Times-Picayune "Culinary Q&A" column by Myriam Guidroz. Morrison's Dumplings 3 1/4 lbs All-purpose flour 1/2 lb Margarine 3 Eggs 3 or 4 drops Yellow food coloring (optional) 12 ounces Chicken stock Sift the flour. Add the margarine and mix at low speed. Add the eggs, then the chicken stock (which should be very cold - Morrison's adds ice cubes to the stock and then strains them out) in which you have mixed the food coloring. Roll out and cut into diamond shapes, then stack the dumplings with flour between the layers. Refrigerate uncovered so the dumplings can dehydrate overnight. When ready to cook, bring chicken stock to a boil. Rinse the dumplings in ice water to remove the extra flour, add a few at a time to the boiling stock and simmer until tender. The stock is then thickened with a little roux before pouring it onto the dumplings and chicken. Cutting this down to 10 servings is relatively easy: You could use 3 cups of flour (plus some for rolling out), 1/4 cup of margarine, 1 egg and enough chicken stock (2 to 3 ounces) to make the dough pliable and easy to roll out. To cut it down even more, you may have to omit the egg entirely. (Note: Too much egg in ratio to flour can make the dumplings tough.) ===================================================================== The Morrison's Dumplings recipe published in the New Orleans Times-Picayune a couple of decades ago appeared in Myriam Guidroz's Q and A column and she wrote a note published with the recipe saying she got it from Mr. Jim Litchford, of the Lake Forest Morrison's. Lake Forest is a neighborhood of east New Orleans. This is another example of how Morrison's let managers add recipes to their individual stores that were not in the Morrison's manual. And it's another reason why some requests for Morrison''s recipes are forever lost. They were local creations. Corporate Morrison's used a "dried manufactured dumpling" that came in five pound box/bags. The reason: they were convenient and they held together better on a steam table compared to the fresh. And they were always available. Even today many restaurants and home cooks use flour tortillas simmered in chicken broth as dumplings. Morrison's used the dumplings in something they called Chicken Stew and Dumplings, which was simply a hen boiled with celery and onions and a little salt and pepper to create a stock. They removed the chicken and chopped it up and added the dumplings to the stock and simmered until done. The dumplings were put in a steam pan and topped with the chicken meat and then a "clear roux" composed of chicken fat, stock and Clearjel was spooned over the top. Yellow food coloring was in both the roux and stock giving it the color of Oleo. Here's a link to an LSU fan website with the recipe.and Myriam's note. Tiger droppings JAMES ================================================================== More recently, James W. (not the same James), also a former Morrison's employee, sent me a fax of the complete "Chicken Stew and Dumplings" recipe from his copy of the Morrison's Kitchen Manual. The above Myriam Guidroz recipe appears a cut down version to 1/2 of this one. Morrison's Chicken Stew and Dumplings (64 orders) Ingredient Weights & Measures ---------------------------------------------------------------- Stock: Hens 4 each Water 4 gals Onions (whole) 1 lb Celery (stalks) 1/2 lb Salt 2 ozs Pepper 1/4 oz Method: Bring to a boil, lower heat and let simmer until hens are tender. Skim off scum as it rises to the top in order to have a clear stock. Remove from heat. Cool and let hens soak in stock overnight in refrigerator. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Dumplings: Flour (sifted) 6 1/2 lbs Oleo (margarine) 1 lb Eggs 6 each Yellow coloring 3 or 4 drops Chicken stock (cold) 12 ozs. Salt to taste Sift flour into mixing bowl. Add margarine to flour and mix at #1 speed. Add eggs and blend well. Add salt and coloring to stock and add stock slowly to flour mixture. Roll dumplings through pastry roller in sheets large enough to cover bottom of steam table pan. Sprinkle flour between layers and place on top of one another until all are rolled out. Using a table knife, cut into strips about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide, cutting diagonally. Note: Dumplings can be made one day ahead and frozen. --------------------------------------------------------------- Hen meat 8 lbs Remove above hens from stock. Pull hen meat from bones, saving the skins. Leave the meat in large enough pieces to be cut or hand stripped into small strips. Lay strips side by side lengthwise on the slice. --------------------------------------------------------------- Dumplings Chicken stock (from above) remaining Chicken skins (ground) remaining Grind skins. Put stock in a large pot and bring to a rolling boil. Add ground skins to boiling stock. Rinse dumplings with ice water to remove excess flour. Drop dumplings into boiling stock a few at a time, keeping stock boiling. After all dumplings have been dropped into stock, reduce heat to simmer until dumplings are tender. ---------------------------------------------------------------- To serve: Fill steamtable slide 3/4 full with dumplings. Top with 2 lbs of hen meat and stock.