A world full of flavor

Photos by BRANDY CRUZ and courtesy of BARBARA BARCELLONA SMITH and JANNA ZEPP

Thank you to everyone who shared a recipe with us showcasing your favorite travels. This issue’s reader-submitted recipes were all delicious and easy to make.

Next up is our summer issue. I always think of backyard cookouts with family and friends during the summer, so we are requesting your favorite recipe to bring to cookouts. Send recipes and photos to editor@texappealmag.com.

Navajo Fry Bread

Submitted by Ronald Egan

This fry bread is delicious and can be eaten like a taco with meat and your favorite toppings or even sprinkled with powdered sugar or honey and eaten as a dessert.

Ingredients
Oil for frying
1¾ cups self-rising flour
¼ cup cornstarch
1¼ cups warm milk

Directions
Heat oil in a deep fryer or large saucepan to 375 degrees.

Combine flour, cornstarch and milk in a large bowl. Mix ingredients together. Use a ladle to pour mixture into hot oil to fry. Fry until golden brown and then flip to fry on the other side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.

Repeat with remaining dough.

Babbalucci Stew

Submitted by Barbara Barcellona Smith, author of Let’s Eat Snails!

Babbalucci is an Italian style snail stew and the recipe is straight from my Sicilian father. Since snails can make you ill if not cooked properly, it is very important to follow the instructions and this recipe is very easy. And so satisfying to eat!

The word ‘Babbalucci’ is Sicilian slang for snail. Here, fresh Peconic Escargot is stewed with tomatoes, wine, garlic and herbs. The stew is served with warm crusty bread and a handful of toothpicks for picking the snails from their shells. Enjoy!

Ingredients
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
1 medium yellow onion (small dice)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried chili flakes
1 cup dry red wine
14 ounce can of peeled roma tomatoes
4 dozen Peconic escargot, in shell
1 bunch parsley (chopped)
1 bunch basil (chopped — reserve a few beautiful leaves for garnish)

Directions
In a medium pot over medium high heat, heat the olive oil until warm. Add the garlic and onions, and sauté until softened, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the oregano and chili and continue to cook until fragrant. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the red wine and bring to a simmer, allowing the wine to reduce by half. While the wine is reducing, crush the tomatoes in a separate bowl, breaking them into smaller chunks. Add the crushed tomatoes to the pot, then season again with salt and pepper.

Simmer this mixture gently for 10 minutes. Add the snails and simmer for an additional 20 minutes. It should only have small bubbles, not a rolling boil. Add the chopped basil and parsley. Simmer an additional 10 minutes.

Channel your inner Italian grandmother and add more seasoning if necessary, maybe a drizzle of nice olive oil if you feel like it. Spoon the contents of the pot into a large serving dish or bowl.

Serve with warm bread for mopping up extra sauce and toothpicks for picking the snail meat from the shells.

Picking the Snails: Peconic escargo — in-shell snails will require the eater to pick the snail meat out of the shell, either with a toothpick, or a small shellfish pick.

To do this, hold the pick in the right hand and the snail in the left hand. Stick the pick into the meat of the snail. With the left hand, twist the snail in a clockwise direction to cleanly release the meat.

Queso

Submitted by Janna Zepp

This recipe was made by my Gammy, Helen Diantha Rodgers Casstevens. The bouillon is my own addition. Her father was a Methodist circuit preacher in the late 19th century. They settled in Lindale, Texas (East Texas). Gammy was born in Jourdanton in 1914. She attended Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth and was a special education teacher in the 1970s and ’80s.

Ingredients
1 can beef broth
Half a block of Velveeta cheese
1 teaspoon of Better Than Bouillon Beef Roux (my addition)
½ cup dry sherry
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes
½ cup of heavy whipping cream
1 block of cream cheese
1 shallot or ½ cup green onions
1 pound ground beef

Directions
Brown the ground beef in a skillet with the shallots or green onions. Add dry sherry and the bouillon roux.

Incorporate the remaining ingredients and stir occasionally until the cheeses are melted.

This can be eaten as a dip, soup or sauce over noodles.

German Jägerschnitzel

Submitted by Sydney Johnson

Jägerschnitzel was my absolute favorite thing to eat while stationed with the Army in Germany, so when I returned to the states and had a craving, I found out how to make it from my own kitchen. If you’ve never had this delicious German creation, you’re missing out on one of the greatest culinary creations ever made. Fun fact: Chicken fried steak is derived from Jägerschnitzel, following a large German immigration to Texas and Oklahoma in the mid-1800s.

Ingredients
Oil for frying
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Salt and pepper to taste
4 pork steaks or cutlets, pounded thin
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 package sliced mushrooms
1 ½ cups water
1 cube beef bouillon
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Directions
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

Place beaten egg in a shallow dish. Mix together bread crumbs and flour in a second shallow dish; season with salt and pepper.

Use a mallet to beat boneless pork steaks thin. Dip the meat in beaten egg, then into the bread crumb mixture to coat. You can repeat this if you want a thicker crust.

Fry coated steaks in hot oil until browned and cooked through, about five minutes per side. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of steaks should read at least 145 degrees. Remove steaks to a platter and keep warm.

Add onion and mushrooms to drippings in the skillet, then cook and stir until lightly browned. Pour in water and stir in bouillon cube until dissolved. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

Combine cornstarch with a bit of water in a small bowl to make a slurry. (If you do not do this, the cornstarch will clump when it hits the hot pan.) Stir slurry mixture into the skillet and cook over low heat until sauce is thickened, but do not boil. Spoon sauce over steaks to serve.

Serve with French fries to soak up all the leftover brown gravy.