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Anyone who does any amount of cooking likely has at least a few cookbooks. If you’re my mother, you might have a few hundred. There are some you keep only for one recipe and some that you use on a weekly basis. Many are divided by theme — appetizers and desserts, meat or vegan, Italian or Chinese. Some are collections of favorite from restaurants, or simply favorites that a church group have put together to publish and raise funds.

I only have one shelf of cookbooks, though they will spill over and require two very soon. My first cookbook was actually one I started with my grandmother when I was 8 or 10. She would save the recipes from Rookie Cookie, a cartoon mouse who gave kids easy recipes to make and published them with themes in the Saturday newspaper. I’d cut out the recipes and glue them onto pieces of paper to put in a binder. Eventually I added recipes from other sources. I’ve dismantled that binder, but still have most of the recipes.

My favorite cookbook is similar. My aunt had put together a cookbook of family recipes for my mother when she got married. A few years ago my family started putting together another cookbook for my generation. It contains recipes for all the meals I enjoyed at family gatherings. 

When it comes to my Saturday night theme cooking, I am much more likely to look online for a new recipe, but sometimes I pull from an old favorite. I’ve kept the recipes that work and put them into a file to make a cookbook of Saturday night recipes.

A friend asked me today how to organize the recipes she’s been clipping. I have a folder where I stash clipped recipes, with the intention of maybe typing them up and adding them to one of my favorite cookbooks. But I wonder how you organize your recipes. Any suggestions?

If there was any doubt that garden season was over, snow over the last few days sealed it. Thanks to a poor growing season, blight and worms, I only got a handful of red plum tomatoes this year, and none of the bigger ‘big boy’ hybrids.

Instead, I ended up with several plants falling over from the weight of green tomatoes that refused to turn red. As the frost loomed last week, I finally plucked them all and decided the best approach was to search for green tomato recipes.

Many people have heard of fried green tomatoes, but I’d never tried them in any form. Tonight I sampled some and found them to have an interesting flavor. The bigger version seemed a little sweeter, while the plums were a little more tart. The only flavors I can compare them to are a very tart apple, an element of green pepper and some having more or less of the developed tomato taste.  

I found a list of recipes at  http://tipnut.com/green-tomato-recipes/.  Based on the recipes I spent tonight dividing approximately 25 tomatoes into several cups each of diced and pureed tomatoes. I put some in the freezer to use later for green tomato bread. This week I may try the following green tomato soup I found on several sites online. I’ll be sure to let you know how it turns out!

Green tomato soup

3 c Tomatoes; green -peeled & chopped fine

1 Onion; chopped

1/4 ts Cinnamon

1/8 ts Cloves; ground

1 ts Sugar

1/4 ts -Pepper

2 c -Water

1/4 ts Baking soda

3 tb Butter

3 tb Flour; all purpose

4 c Milk

Place in the saucepan; the tomatoes, onion, cinnamon, ground cloves, sugar, pepper and water. Bring to a boil and boil for 30 minutes. Add the soda. Melt the butter, add the flour. Mix and add the milk. Cook till creamy, stirring constantly. Add green tomatoes to the cream. Mix thoroughly. Salt to taste and serve.

It’s a Sunday night TV staple for me. A new Iron Chef will be added soon, with competition for the coveted spot to start this Sunday night. Tell me who you’re rooting for and if there’s a test you’d like to see!

Labor Day weekend in Lawrence means a weekend of celebrations, from the Lebanese celebration at Mahrajan to the Bread & Roses Festival to the Feast of the Three Saints. This is my fourth Labor Day in the Merrimack Valley, and every year around this time the newsroom talk turns to rice balls, crispellis and all the other treats to be enjoyed at the festivities.

This year I got to try some of the treats myself. On Thursday, writer Rosemary Ford, who wrote about all the events for Thursday’s paper, went to the famed Italian Kitchen to bring rice balls and crispellis back to the newsroom for us. Both were yummy.

Crispellis, for those who aren’t familiar with them, are a variation of fried dough. I was considering eating them with sugar, but was told that was “for kids” and the authentic way to enjoy them was with anchovies and/or cheese. I passed on the anchovies. I only bought one, but could easily have eaten half a bag of the small fried dough balls. I was anticipating a gooey yellow cheese, but they were neatly packed with a ricotta type. 

The rice ball was like a large meatball except not as dense. Lightly friend and topped with spaghetti sauce, a pleasant surprise of chicken and peas was found in the middle. Just the right size for lunch!

If you can’t make it downtown this weekend, you can try this recipe for the crispelli as provided in The Italian Kitchen and printed in The Eagle-Tribune nearly 10 years ago. 

Crispelli

Ingredients:

2 cups very warm water

1 pound flour (or more to achieve desired consistency)

1 ounce yeast

1 ounce salt

1/2 ounce sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking power

1 can anchovies (optional)

2 cups oil, or enough to fry in a skillet or sauce pan.

Confectionary sugar

Mix above ingredients except for the oil.

After the dough is made, let it rise for at least 45 minutes. You will have a very sticky dough that is hard to work with. For plain crispellis, you can scoop ping-pong ball sized dollops into hot oil.

For anchovy crispellis, take a handful of dough. Using lots of flour makes the job easier. Place an anchovy or two in the middle, wrap it in the dough to form a ball. Carefully drop into oil. You should have enough in the pan for the dough to float. Fry one side and then the other for a few minutes until they are a golden brown. Do not burn the oil. For a sweet touch, sprinkle the plain crispellis with some confectionary sugar.