Recipes: Toasted Pecan Rice, Apple Dump Cake and more

Q. Ten or more years ago, I ate at the Crab House in Boca Raton, Fla. One of the side dishes was the best rice I've ever eaten — it had a sort of roasted pecan flavor. Any chance of getting the recipe?

— Debbie Kitchens, Perry, Ga.

A. There are many variations on this theme, and since there no longer is a restaurant by that name in Boca Raton, I had to guess at how it was prepared.

Some cooks insist on wild rice, some use a blend of white and wild, others say only basmati or jasmine will do. Onion or leeks, garlic and bay leaf are often included. You can add sauteed mushrooms, carrots or another vegetable. I also love adding dried fruit such as cranberries, apricots or raisins. Seasoning is a matter of taste as well.

The best version I remember tasting was in Louisiana, where a dose of Cajun tri-pepper seasoning and thyme complemented the nuttiness of the pecans. This is a wonderful potluck dish, particularly if you use vegetable stock to keep it vegetarian.

Toasted Pecan Rice

Makes 8 servings

Pecans for toasting

3 tablespoons butter

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

2 celery ribs, chopped

1 or 2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup uncooked rice (white or brown)

4 cups beef, chicken or vegetable broth

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup minced parsley

1/2 cup chopped green onion

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup pecans, freshly toasted

1. Toast pecans in a 350-degree oven until fragrant, about 10 minutes

2. Heat butter in a 1 ½-quart saucepan over medium heat. Saute yellow onion, bell pepper and celery 5 minutes. Turn heat to high, stir in garlic and cook until fragrant and lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in rice, broth and bay leaf; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until rice is tender, 20 to 25 minutes for white, 35 to 40 minutes for brown. Stir in parsley, green onion and pecans.

Note: Water can be substituted for the broth, but you'll need to add more salt and perhaps a splash of Worcestershire. .

Per serving: 242 calories (53 percent from fat), 14.5 g fat (3.7 g saturated, 6.8 g monounsaturated), 11.4 mg cholesterol, 4.2 g protein, 25.5 g carbohydrates, 2.5 g fiber, 444.2 mg sodium.

Q: Some time ago, you printed a recipe for apple cake using a cake mix and canned apple pie filling with a crumb topping. It was one of my husband's favorites. I lost the recipe! Can you please reprint it?

— Joan in Miami

A: Those ingredients are common in what is ingloriously known as a "dump cake." It bakes up more like a crisp than a cake, and is delicious warm with ice cream or whipped cream. You can use any flavor cake mix and pie filling or fresh fruit tossed with sugar. My favorite is spice cake with peaches, mangoes or apples, but I"m also fond of chocolate cake mix with cherries. Some recipes only use one can of pie filling, but I find that skimpy.

Apple Dump Cake

Makes 15 servings

2 (21-ounce) cans apple pie filling

1 (standard-size) box yellow, white or spice cake mix

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread apple filling in bottom of an ungreased 9-by-13-inch pan. Pour dry cake mix into a bowl and drizzle with melted butter. Mix well with a fork; it will be crumbly. Sprinkle mixture over filling. Bake 50 to 55 minutes, until lightly browned.

Per serving: 284 calories (32 percent from fat), 10.2 g fat (4.5 g saturated, 3.3 g monounsaturated), 16.9 mg cholesterol, 1.7 g protein, 48 g carbohydrates, 1.2 g fiber, 310.2 mg sodium.

Q: I'm looking for the recipe for blue cheese dressing from Len Berg's restaurant in Macon. The dressing was a bright orange, almost like a French dressing, but it was blissfully blue cheese. The restaurant closed a while ago but we old timers still miss it.

— Susan Kaplan, Macon, Ga.

A: I'd always thought this eccentric blend of French and blue cheese dressings was a Carolina thing. I've only encountered it at the home of a friend from the Low Country who told me she'd learned to make it from her grandmother. (She also confessed that when pressed for time she added blue cheese crumbles to Kraft Catalina dressing.)

The dressing is quite sweet, which makes a nice contrast to the tangy blue cheese. It is an acquired taste. French Blue Cheese Dressing

Makes 1 ½ cups

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

1/3 cup ketchup

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon paprika

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

1. Pulse the onion and garlic in a blender or food processor until very finely chopped. With the motor running, slowly add the oil through the feed tube, then the ketchup, sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and paprika. Pour into a jar with a lid, and stir in the blue cheese. Chill. Shake well before serving.

Per tablespoon: 69 calories (65 percent from fat), 5.1 g fat (0.6 g saturated, 2.8 g monounsaturated), 1.1 mg cholesterol, 0.4 g protein, 5.8 g carbohydrates, 0.1 g fiber, 101.9 mg sodium.

(Contact Linda Cicero: lcicero@MiamiHerald.com)

(c) 2009, The Miami Herald.