From time to time, I’ll be posting recipes from the ladies who resided at the Ridge Oak Senior Living Residence in New Jersey. In the ’80s, Dorothy Basse and her friends gathered a treasury of their recipes. Dorothy’s granddaughter, Carol Evans, graciously gave me permission to copy and share them with you. Going through them brought back memories from my childhood, and I believe they will do the same for you. This is in remembrance of those women who had the foresight to compile a book and allow what could have been forgotten to be preserved. Thank you, ladies!
CRAB MEAT & NOODLE CASSEROLE (Ridge Oak Ladies)
Preheat Oven: 350° Serves: 4- 6
INGREDIENTS:
8 oz. noodles, cooked
8 oz. Pimento cheese spread (I used the original, however they have one with jalapeno, for those who want a little heat)
1/2 pint of heavy cream
1 lb. crab meat (real crab meat was way too expensive to use, so I substituted with imitation crab, and the recipe was very good)*
1/4 cup of dry cooking sherry**
DIRECTIONS:
Heat the cheese and cream in a double boiler. Then mix together the cheese, cream, crab meat and sherry. Add the cooked noodles and mix well. Grease an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 casserole dish and turn mixture into the dish. Heat for about 30 minutes or until bubbly hot.
This can be made the day before and brought to room temperature. Add a little milk before heating. Serve hot.
*If you use real crab meat, remember to pick out the shells.
**If you don’t have sherry, you can use a dry vermouth, dry madeira, dry marsala or substitute with an apple cider vinegar – if you use the vinegar, add about 1/8 cup of vinegar plus 1/8 cup of water.
