There are recipes for pies and casseroles by the dozens. For those who say "the more the merrier," here are two more -- Key lime pie and Tater Tot casserole.
Claramarie Trombetta of Timonium requested a Key lime pie recipe, as did Marjorie J. Flax of Baltimore. Trombetta wrote: "I have a six-tier book shelf in my kitchen with all kinds of cookbooks and none of them has a Key lime pie recipe."
Help came from Mary Angerer of Cockeysville, who sent a recipe taken from "How America Eats" by Clementine Paddleford (1960). Paddleford called her recipe lime chiffon pie, Angerer noted. "She was the food editor of Parade magazine and traveled the country searching for recipes."
Shannon Strickland of Fort Meade requested a recipe for a Tater Tot casserole. The response came from Arlene Lambeth of Baltimore, who wrote, "I got this out of a cookbook from my family in Michigan."
Lime Chiffon Pie
Makes 8 slices
4 egg yolks
1 can (15 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup lime juice (if you can't find Key limes, any other kind will do)
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 (9-inch) pastry shell
Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored. Stir in condensed milk, lime juice and salt, blending well. In another bowl, beat egg whites until foamy; gradually add sugar, continue beating until meringue stands in peaks. Fold 1/4 cup of meringue into egg-yolk mixture. Pour into baked pie shell. Cover top with remaining meringue. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, or until meringue is lightly browned.
Tester Laura Reiley's comments: "For some reason, my lime mixture remained slightly soupy after the baking. I used only medium egg yolks, and the can of condensed milk was only 14 ounces, so the size of the eggs or the amount of milk could have contributed to the problem."
Tater Tot Casserole
Serves 6 to 8
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) cream of chicken soup
1 package Tater Tots (in frozen-food section)
vegetables, optional
Pat meat on bottom of an 8-inch-by-12-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with sugar; cover with soup and then with Tater Tots. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. (Note: You can add vegetables such as onions and peppers to the ground beef. Just saute first.)
Tester Reiley's comments: "It's really a variation on burgers and fries, only this time the fries are atop the burgers. The soup doesn't add much except a creamy, casserole consistency. The Tater Tots get nice and crunchy on top, and the meat, to which I added onion and a little cracked black pepper, is almost like a meatloaf underneath. I'm not sure what the tiny quantity of sugar is supposed to accomplish; it certainly could be omitted."
Recipe requests
* Josephine Richardson of Bel Air wants a chicken recipe. "When visiting the Price Club food outlet and eating lunch at their lunch room, I had Chicken Bake. It was some type of rolled-up chicken in dough and it was excellent."
* Samuel Redd of Hanover remembers "growing up in Baltimore and working in a drugstore that had fountain service. On the menu was a hot dog and roll. I'm having trouble finding the hot dog or the roll. The only taste close to the hot dog is the Hebrew National Beef Knockwurst. The rolls were not like those today. They had a chewy texture and the outside had a glaze like an egg wash. I'd be thankful for any information."
* Marion Harris of Baltimore wants a recipe for hazelnut truffles like those sold in Hutzler's years ago. "They were not round but were a two-layered oblong confection with a light layer and a darker layer."
If you are looking for a recipe or can answer a request for a hard-to-find recipe, write to Ellen Hawks, Recipe Finder, The Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, Md. 21278. If you send in more than one recipe, put each on a separate sheet of paper with your name, address and daytime phone number. Important: Please list the ingredients in order of use, and note the number of servings each recipe makes.
Pub Date: 2/18/98
