A Crunchy Cole Slaw a la Gulliver’s

Dear SOS: Gulliver’s restaurant serves a delicious cole slaw and the dressing is wonderful. Could you please publish these recipes?

--DITA

Dear Dita: You can have the cole slaw mixture, but not the dressing, since it is prepared from scratch using a spice mix prepared to Gulliver’s specifications. It’s an excellent, crunchy slaw for picnics and patio barbecues.

GULLIVER’S COLE SLAW

1 1/4 pounds cabbage

1/4 cup chopped green onions

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt

1/3 cup unsalted peanuts

1/3 cup chopped celery

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 cup Italian-style salad dressing

Remove outer leaves of cabbage. Core and cut into quarters, then shred.

Place cabbage, onions, sugar, salt, unsalted peanuts and celery in large bowl. Toss thoroughly. Add vinegar and Italian dressing and mix only enough to season evenly. Do not overmix. Serve as soon as possible. Makes 6 servings.

Dear SOS: Not long ago I purchased a yogurt maker at a garage sale, but it had no instruction booklet. Could you please help by printing a recipe for making yogurt?

--DORIS

Dear Doris: I can provide you with a traditional recipe, which you probably can adapt to your yogurt maker.

HOMEMADE YOGURT

1 quart pasteurized whole, low-fat or nonfat milk

1/3 cup nonfat dry milk or 1 (13-ounce) can evaporated milk

1/3 to 1/2 cup unflavored yogurt

Combine milk and nonfat dry milk. Heat to 120 degrees in double boiler. Pour into sterilized bowl. Cool to 110 degrees.

Remove 1/2 cup warm milk and thoroughly blend into unflavored yogurt. Blend this mixture into remaining warm milk and cover or put milk in custard cups or jelly glasses.

Place containers in pan of water maintained at 110 degrees. Let milk mixture ripen 3 to 6 hours at that temperature until it has thickened and has a tart, acid flavor.

If sharper flavor is preferred, lengthen incubation time. Or place containers in foam plastic bucket or chest that has been prewarmed with jar of hot water. Cover and wrap with blanket. Place in warmest part of kitchen. When yogurt is set, refrigerate until used. Yogurt will keep up to 2 weeks under refrigeration. Makes 4 to 5 cups.

Note: Reserve about 1/2 cup yogurt to use as culture for next batch. After making yogurt several times, culture will become weak, so buy fresh container of yogurt.

Dear SOS: Help. In about 2 weeks I will be up to my neck with tomatoes from my garden and need recipes calling for fresh tomatoes. How about a fresh marinara sauce?

--W.F.B.

Dear W.F.B.: Certainly. You can prepare several batches of this tomato sauce for the freezer to keep on hand for omelets, spaghetti, rice, noodles, cooked roasts, meat balls or fried eggplant, zucchini or other vegetables.

FREEZER TOMATO SAUCE

1/2 cup oil

6 cups chopped onions

6 cloves garlic, crushed

6 green peppers, chopped

6 stalks celery, chopped

8 pounds ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced

3 (6-ounce) cans tomato paste

4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

Heat oil in large pan. Add onions, garlic, green peppers and celery. Simmer until tender.

Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper and sugar. Simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes or until tomatoes are tender. Stir occasionally.

Ladle into 1-pint freezer containers, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Label, date and freeze. When ready to use, thaw overnight in refrigerator or about 2 hours in pan of hot water. Makes 4 1/2 quarts.

Dear SOS: I haven’t been able to locate a dessert recipe for Fried Milk.

--PAUL

Dear Paul: Leche Frita is a cream pudding that is standard throughout Latin America. It’s cut into squares and fried in butter.

FRIED MILK

(Leche Frita)

2 cups milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup farina

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Butter or margarine

Powdered sugar, optional

Combine milk, sugar, farina, eggs and vanilla in saucepan. Bring to boil, then cook and stir until mixture is paste consistency. Pour into 9-inch square pan. Cool, then cut into 2-inch squares.

Melt small amount of butter in skillet and fry squares until golden on both sides, adding more butter if needed to prevent sticking. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Makes about 16 squares.