There seems to be a fragment of black and white memory where I’m a very small child kneeling on a chair next to a kitchen table. The air is fragrant with spices and freshly-rolled dough. Hands are presenting a small ball of dough to me to play with – and the memory ends. Of course, it had to have been my mother. But by the time I was ready to really learn how to cook, she had stopped baking. She simply didn’t enjoy the act of cooking.

I’ve always enjoyed cooking. Not the ensuing cleanup, but the actual blending, measuring, pouring, and the aromas of cooking are great fun with consumable results. What could be better?

One of my greatest pleasures is cooking for others. So now that the holidays have arrived, I thought I’d share a couple of my favorite recipes with you. These are items that have been declared ‘good stuff’ by those who’ve done the taste testing. I share these with you as my thank you, and with my best wishes that you enjoy peace, love, and lots of happy hours with family and friends.

            Belgian Endives with Smoked Salmon. I use this as a starter. The bitter crisp endive leaves against the creamy salty flavors of the dairy products and the fish are surprisingly sophisticated, but easy enough for weekday meal planning. It is substantial, but not too filling. Purchase fresh clean white/light green endives. Two heads will serve eight people. You’ll also need good quality smoked salmon fillets, sour cream, cream cheese, and capers.

Cut off root end of endive head. Separate the individual leaves. These are the little canoes that will transport delicious and delicate flavors to your guests, so do not tear the leaves. They need to be intact for the job of supporting the filling.

Slice salmon fillets in thin strips. Blend two cups of sour cream with ¾ cup cream cheese, two twists from a salt grinder, three twists from a pepper grinder, and blend until smooth. Using a spoon, scoop the dairy mixture into the endive leaves, filling the cavity but not over-doing it. Place a strip of smoked salmon on top of the filling mixture; sprinkle a few capers into the exposed areas between the endive and filling mixture, enough to season with flavor. Arrange on a platter with good quality crackers, hard cheeses, and yellow and red cherry tomatoes. Voila! You’ve just become the king or queen of fancy hors d’oeuvres.

Fried Fish. This was my father’s favorite meal. Dad was an old codger whose childhood demanded he head out fishing with his father at a very early age. They fished from a dory launched from somewhere along the shores of Yarmouthport. Depending on the season, their catch would consist of lobster, scallops, quahogs, or anything else that was available. Once ashore, my grandfather would trade whatever catch he couldn’t sell for cod or haddock or bacon or some other foodstuffs. Dad had a taste for all types of seafood, but fried cod or haddock with an ample supply of French fries was his favorite. My recipe is a breaded variety versus a batter style. Here is how I prepared it for Dad.

Ingredients for feeding four to six people: Two pounds of fresh fish, 3 eggs, 1.5 cups of milk, 1 cup panko flakes, ½ cup flour, 1 cup breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons of Old Bay Seasoning, 2 cups olive oil.

In a shallow dish, beat eggs until thoroughly blended; add milk and blend, set aside. In a second shallow dish, blend together panko flakes, flour, breadcrumbs, and Old Bay Seasoning; set aside. Cut the fish into serving size pieces, depending on your guests. I like to serve nice big slabs of fish, so two pounds will feed four people. Six people can be fed with more conservative servings.

Bathe the fish in the liquid mixture then coat with dry mixture, lightly pressing the mixture into the fish flesh. Place breaded fish on a platter to dry a bit, approximately 15 minutes. This allows the coating time to adhere to the fish for a better end result.

Pour olive oil into a heavy frying pan and heat, but do not burn the oil. The oil needs to be just hot enough to sizzle when a water drop is sprinkled on it. Gently place the fish in the pan allowing enough room to flip the pieces over for browning on both sides. If it seems that the oil is smoking, reduce heat. Olive oil does not tolerate high heat. I’d say medium high to medium is sufficient for the burner.

Cook each side of the fillet for about five to eight minutes, depending on the thickness of the piece and temperature of the oil. Remove fish from pan onto clean platter. By using olive oil, it isn’t necessary to drain the fish on a paper towel. We like the olive oil flavor, but you can drain the fish if you prefer.

Another word about the oil – if you use standard vegetable oil, you’ll absolutely have to drain the fish after cooking to remove as much oil as possible. Again, with olive oil, that step isn’t needed.

I serve the fish with a simple homemade tartar sauce of one part mayonnaise to one-half part drained sweet pickle relish. You’ll want to drain the relish so that the sauce isn’t too watery or too sweet.

That’s it.

I like to serve fish with a rice side dish, versus French fries, which I consider too much work. You can also go for baked potatoes, a green salad, or your own favorite side dish. The mild taste of cod lends itself to coupling with any number of side dishes. This dish has received the Cape Cod Yankee seal of approval.

And so as the year comes to a close and we reflect on 2015 while looking forward to 2016, I’m sending you good wishes, and hope you enjoy these recipes as much as my family has over the years. Happy Merry Jolly to you all.

By Marilou Newell

Ever since she was a little girl, Gail Roberts has participated in an almost sacred local tradition at the Tinkhamtown Chapel in Mattapoisett. For decades, for as long as she can remember, Roberts’ family Christmas included the annual Christmas carol sing at the tiny chapel, welcoming all to gather their families together and pass an hour or so with their neighbors, sharing in the Christmas spirit with song inside the warmth of the humble little church.

When Roberts was a child, there was no electricity to light the darkness of the early winter nighttimes of Christmas. Only kerosene lamp flames would flicker and cast long shadows on the walls, spilling their warm light out through the windows and perhaps onto the snow or across the fields deep into the night.

“My mom and dad kind of started [the tradition] up when they moved back here from Western Mass shortly before I was born,” said Roberts. “Then, my grandmother played the organ at the time.”

The old potbelly stove kept the crowd warm during those colder-than-now nights, and Roberts and her family year after year came to stoke the fire, light the lamps, and pump the trusty old organ that led the voices through each Christmas carol, even though we all know them by heart.

“I remember singing ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’ all by myself,” Roberts said. Back then, in addition to singing Christmas carols, the children would put on plays and performances, a tradition that has waned just a bit since then, she said.

That old organ accompanying them was a manual pump organ, with Roberts’ grandmother’s feet pumping the bellows through each song until Roberts got older and took on the job.

“In high school, I was taking piano lessons and my grandmother felt it was time to pass the organ to me,” said Roberts. So she would pump, “and we would sing every verse to every song.” Even despite the cramping in her leg she would experience from having to pump so hard. “You had to really pump,” Roberts said.

The pumping to make the old organ sound was too much for her brother, said Roberts, and one day Roberts’ uncle rigged the organ to a vacuum cleaner, running a line to a nearby building to power it with electricity. The vacuum would be switched to reverse to blow air instead of drawing it in, and this was how the old organ would be pumped – a breath of life of sorts, making the organ playing easier for Roberts.

“…And it worked fine … until this year,” said Roberts.

It is true. This year, the old organ took its first Christmas off in years – it stopped working early in the evening, leaving caroling voices without the steady lead of the pump organ.

“This year, we just had problems with the organ,” said Roberts. “It just wouldn’t play.”

Roberts said she was grateful that friend Louise Anthony was present that night with her violin, and another friend, Jake, with his banjo.

“And this woman appeared who plays in the New Bedford Symphony who was up the street and was able to come,” said Roberts. “I call her my Christmas angel because she appeared just when we needed her.”

Thus, the Tinkhamtown Chapel Christmas Carol Sing was saved for the 86 people who gathered that evening to carry on the Christmas tradition.

“It’s the same thing every year, and has been for the past many years,” said Roberts. “It’s had its ups and downs. When I was a kid, there were a lot more kids participating and we sang and kids would perform little pieces, so that’s sort of fallen off over the years.”

Roberts recalled when her daughter, now 30 years old, was small; the sing took on the traditional olde tyme Christmas caroling event, with more people singing together.

“And that’s sort of how it evolved into what it is today,” said Roberts.

One of the highlights for Roberts is listening to the children sing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” as they hold up cards for each of the days that Roberts provides year after year.

“Having the kids do the little things they do … is always very cute,” said Roberts. “And we will get the organ fixed.”

The old pump organ still uses a vacuum in the reverse mode to power the music – that is, when it is working.

“Fixing it is one of my New Year’s resolutions,” said Roberts. “I’ve been complaining about it for the last few years.”

But even a busted-up pump organ with a few missing keys couldn’t dampen the Christmas spirit and the people’s determination to sing and rejoice.

“The fact that you get together with the neighbors you might not see most of the year,” said Roberts, despite no organ, with everyone’s collective music memory kept the singing tradition alive. “And it’s just that time of year everyone is rushing around and you don’t have time to talk to people,” Roberts continued. “And this is an hour where you’re just sitting with your neighbors…. So I think that’s the highlight of the year, every year, getting together with everybody.”

By Jean Perry