Delicious recipes from the East Coast

Our family has recently returned home from a vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and various sites throughout North Carolina. I was fortunate to have celebrated my birthday while we were on our trip, and our children surprised me with a fabulous cookbook from the Biltmore Estate and my sister Pat with one from Nags Head on the Outer Banks. Not knowing I would get such nice gifts, I purchased a couple of books myself. So, it was a cookbook and food adventure for me.

I thought I would just pull a few recipes from each of those books to include here today.

Biltmore Stuffed Tomatoes

* Cut a thin slice off the top of each tomato, and with an egg-spoon scoop out all the seeds. For every five tomatoes allow five shallots and 1/4 pound mushrooms.

* Mince the shallots, put them in a stewpan with a lump of butter, and fry them, when they are cooked, cut the mushrooms into small pieces, and put them in with 1 tablespoonful of finely minced parsley, the juice of the tomatoes, which should be obtained by squeezing the pulp and pips, and a sufficient quantity of breadcrumbs to make a thick paste, and stir them well over medium heat.

* Stuff the tomatoes with the mixture, and replace the slices that were cut off the top. Put them side by side in a baking dish, pour over 2- or 3-tablespoonfuls of olive oil, and bake them for half an hour in a moderate oven.

* When cooked, place the tomatoes on a hot dish, garnish with fried parsley, and serve. This is a very tasty way of cooking tomatoes.

Crab Salad

1 pound fresh crabmeat

1 cup macaroni sea shells, cooked and cooled

1 cup celery, diced small

1/2 cup mayonnaise

3 ounces cream cheese

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons sherry

1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

1 teaspoon horseradish

* Stir cream cheese until soft. Add Worcestershire sauce, sherry, Old Bay and horseradish.

* Blend until smooth then fold into crabmeat, macaroni and celery. Serve with fresh vegetables.

Cracker Deluxe

1/2 pound saltine crackers

1 stick butter, melted

1/4 pound extra sharp cheese, grated

Cayenne pepper

* Arrange crackers to cover a foil lined or parchment lined cookie sheet. Pour melted butter evenly over crackers.

* Sprinkle cheese over crackers. Cover completely.

* Dust lightly with red pepper. Cook for 8 hours in a 150 degree oven.

Seafood Au Gratin

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 1/2 cups onion, chopped, or less to taste

2 sticks butter

1 cup flour

2 large cans evaporated milk

4 egg yolks

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 cups Cheddar cheese, grated

1 pound crabmeat

1 pound steamed shrimp, peeled and deveined

* In a large pot melt butter and sauté onions and celery. Turn heat to low and gradually blend in flour until thickened.

* Gradually add evaporated milk, egg yolks, salt and pepper. Add cheese and blend well. Add crabmeat and shrimp and mix gently.

* Transfer mixture to a buttered casserole dish. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Hot Crabmeat Sandwich

6 ounces crabmeat

2 (3 ounce) packages cream cheese

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

4 drops Tabasco sauce

Juice of 1/2 lemon

4 pieces bread, thinly sliced

4 slices tomato

4 slices sharp Cheddar cheese

* Combine crabmeat, cream cheese, mayonnaise, onion, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce and lemon. Refrigerate overnight.

* When ready to serve pile crabmeat mixture at least 1 inch thick on bread. Top each with a slice of tomato generously salted and a slice of cheese.

* Bake at 300 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Serves 4.

Outer Banks Clam Chowder

This 150-year-old recipe is very similar to what we saw on menus on the Outer Banks. It is a clear broth soup and not the thick cream sauce we are used to seeing.

4 cups chopped fresh clams

5 cups diced potatoes

1/4 pound streak-of-lean, streak-of-fat, diced (salt pork)

1 quart water

1 large onion, chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

* Open clams, saving all juice. Fry seasoning meat until clear. Add onions to grease and fry until onions are clear.

* Put water into large pot. Add potatoes, onion, salt, pepper, seasoning meat, grease and clam juice. Boil until potatoes are done. Add clams.

* Bring back to a boil and remove from heat immediately. Serve with crackers.

Shallowbag Bay Shrimp Salad

1 pound cooked, chopped shrimp

2 ribs celery, finely diced

5 to 6 small sweet pickles, finely diced

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon chopped onion

3 boiled eggs, chopped

Lemon juice, dash

Salt and pepper, to taste

Mayonnaise, enough to mix

* Mix ingredients and chill before serving.

Roanoke Island Coleslaw

5 tablespoons mayonnaise

Add the following, mixing after each:

1 tablespoon catsup

Garlic salt to taste

2 tablespoons mustard

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Dash of Tabasco

Dash of vinegar

1 bell pepper, chopped

Shredded cabbage, green and red together

* Refrigerate before serving.

I hope you enjoy this very small sampling of recipes from a snapshot of our trip. Have a great week, and until next time, happy cooking.

Susan McClanahan is administrator at the Cape Girardeau Senior Center. Send recipes to her at news@semissourian.com or by mail at P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701. Recipes published have not been kitchen-tested by Southeast Missourian staff.