The Merlin Menu

By Ron Merlin

Have you ever eaten something and thought to yourself, "This is so good, I need to get the recipe"? Then The Merlin Menu is the book for you.

The Merlin Menu is an accumulation of a wide variety of recipes I have posted over the years to my blog, viewed by more than one million visitors. All recipes are tried and true and range f

• Language: English
• Publisher: Book Vine Press
• Release date: Mar 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9781951886455

Ron Merlin

Ron Merlin is a devoted father of three and a career finance and accounting executive. He has also been a self-taught cook for over forty years. Ron is enjoying retirement and spending time with family and his 3 grandchildren.

Book preview

Contents

When I Started Cooking

Grandma Patterson’s Buttermilk Doughnuts

Fettucine with Creamy Tomato and Sausage Sauce

Balsamic Steak Sauce

The Kitchen Bad Boy

Quick Acorn Squash with Cranberry Sauce

Ron’s Bread Pudding

The Merlin Steak Dinner

Buttermilk Cornbread

Snickerdoodle Muffins

World-Class Peanut Butter Cookies

Homemade Bread

Pickled Cucumbers

Sausage, Tomato, and Cheese Strata

Buttermilk Panna Cotta With Raspberry Sauce

Buttermilk Pancakes

Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Waffles

Crème Brûlée

Pork Tenderloin with Lime/Cream Sauce

Spinach Souffle

Vanilla Buttermilk Currant Scones

Vanilla Bean Corn Toasties

Ron’s Buttermilk Biscuits

Twice-Baked Potatoes

Intense Chocolate Shock Cookies

Cookie In A Cookie

Deep-Dish Chicago Skillet Pizza

Crock-Pot Potato Leek Soup

Broccoli Casserole

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole

Crock-Pot Guinness Beef Stew

Cinnamon Roll Muffins

Cream Cheese Brownies

Pumpkin Spice Bread With Maple Cheesecake Layer

Crock-Pot Black Bean Pumpkin Soup

Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies with Sea Salt

Butternut Squash Apple Soup

Honey Oatmeal Bread

Crock-Pot Split Pea Soup

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Cream Cheese Vanilla Pound Cake

Ron’s Green Bean Casserole

Potatoes Grande

Crock-Pot Yankee Beef Stew

Banana Cranberry Bread

Cranberry Streusel Shortbread Bars

Slow Cooker Balsamic Spaghetti And Meatballs

Eggnog Bread Pudding with Nutmeg and Caramel

Creamy Polenta

Honey Buttermilk Panna Cotta

Baked Sage-Parmesan-Crusted Pork Chops

Applesauce Ginger Bread

Homemade Toaster Bread

Slow Cooker Shoyu Chicken

Maui Ribs

Potato Skins

Chocolate Soufflé Cookies

Whipped Cashew Butter Cookies

Vanilla Bean Malt Cookies

Balsamic Glazed Carrots

Smoked Paprika-Roasted Cornish Game Hen

Vanilla Bean Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Baked Raisin Nutmeg Brown Sugar Irish Oatmeal

Almond Butter Butterscotch Squares

Sunflower Butter Marshmallow Peanut Crisps

Vanilla Cream Cheese Panna Cotta With Raspberry Sauce

Parmesan Chicken Piccata

Herbs De Provence Breakfast Potatoes

Stuffed Pork Chops

When I Started Cooking

Hi, I’m Ron Merlin. I live in Seattle, Washington, and have been cooking and baking since I was a little guy. I learned to cook by helping Grandma in West Springfield, Massachusetts. (I’ll never forget the homemade doughnuts she made every time we visited.) Anyway, some odd years later, I’ve decided to share with you the recipes, techniques, and the love of fine food I’ve learned over the years.

Grandma lived in a little red house with white trim way up in the country with Jim Patterson, my stepgrandfather (is there such a thing?). I remember Grandpa Jim apparently didn’t like kids much as he rarely spoke, just sat in his rocker, smoked a big old smelly pipe, and watched TV. Grandma waited on him hand and foot. Quite frankly, he scared the heck out of me.

But you can’t make this stuff up. I was born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, and lived with my mom. And once at Christmas and once in the summer, we would travel to Grandma Patterson’s home eighty-five miles away up in the woods. It was during these trips I learned about baking and cooking, and blueberry fields and cow pies, and how all the neat stuff in Grandpa Jim’s garages were not to be messed with.

I realize now, that at the time I was living the picture card Christmas life. We would drive for two hours up into the hills, west of where we lived, and drive and drive through fields, sparsely populated, covered with snow, and eventually, at the top of some hill off the highway, hit a gravel road, turn right, and travel a half mile to this little red and white farmhouse, covered in snow. Smoke was coming out from the chimney, which was attached to both the fireplace and wood-burning stove in Grandma’s kitchen. Crooked Christmas lights were hung here and there, because Grandma had placed them (Grandpa Jim wasn’t into that kind of stuff). Then, I would walk in, and there was Grandma, greeting her grandkids as generations of grandparents have done no doubt, so glad to see us.

And every time, every single time, Grandma would say to me, Ronnie [yes, grimace, I was called Ronnie in those days], would you like to make some doughnuts?

Then Grandma and I would enter the pantry to the right of her kitchen (pantry is a joke, it was the size of a small closet, with shelving on three sides from floor to ceiling, and just stuffed with canned goods, bags, seasonings, etc.). On one side was a small wooden, well-worn countertop. She would place a wooden bowl on it and to my amazement, begin to make doughnut dough. No recipe, no measuring, no nothing. As liquids were needed, Grandma Patterson would hand me the right-sized measuring cup or utensil and send me forth into the kitchen to retrieve the liquid.

Believe it or not, at five or six years old, I began to create dough, with no help whatsoever, and within thirty minutes we would begin to deep-fry on an old wood stove. Misshaped doughnuts and little doughnut holes, which then it was my job to shake around in paper bags filled with sugar and cinnamon and nutmeg. And then, I was rewarded with the best doughnuts I have ever had, with ice-cold milk—me and Grandma, eating doughnuts in the kitchen. It amazed me how she could do that. And I admit, it’s what got me started on being interested in cooking. And to this day, I love to cook and bake with no recipe (although in this cookbook, I will try to measure things out). Anyway, in honor of Grandma Patterson, I think my first recipe should be homemade buttermilk doughnuts, compliments of her. God rest her soul.

What do you think? By the way, when was the last time you have had homemade doughnuts? Huh? You a Krispy Kreme freak?

Try these, and if you have kids, give them some. And let them shake them up in a sugar bag.

They might write a cookbook about you some day.

Grandma Patterson’s Buttermilk Doughnuts

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 c. of sugar

3 tbsp. butter (melted)

1 c. buttermilk

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

2 c. flour

oil for frying

Procedure:

Find a suitable pan and heat the oil to approximately 350°F.

Beat eggs and sugar together. Add Buttermilk and melted butter. Beat together.

Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and flour, and mix together well.

The dough will be very sticky. Roll out onto well-floured board or counter. Knead the flour into the dough for four or five times (i.e., fold a third of the dough into the middle and press down firmly with the heel of your hand). Rotate and repeat.

Roll out the dough until 1/2 inch thick gently with a rolling pin. Rub flour on the pin to keep from sticking.

If your doughnut hole cutter looks like mine, then the middle has been lost years ago. In the absence of a cutter, just use the rim of a glass (dip in flour to keep from sticking), and to get the holes, do as I did (see below).

Gently lower into hot oil, and be careful. First of all it’s hot! Second, it will only take a minute or two per side and then you must immediately turn, or they will burn quickly. Cook one more minute and remove with slotted spoon to paper towels and let cool slightly.

See, I knew that shot glass would come in handy (I suppose that’s why I took it home that night).

Now, here’s a little tidbit about Grandma’s doughnuts, which, as a kid just intrigued me to no end. Grandma didn’t care what they looked like; in fact what I loved was, she made some real weird-looking and weird-shaped doughnuts. Grandma would just cut and pull and throw in the oil (no telling what they would look like). I do the same. Although I love them plain, here’s the bag of sugar and cinnamon. Just shake them around. You can also use confectioner’s sugar.

As you can see, they are deformed, some are overdone, and some have no holes at all. It didn’t matter! That’s what I loved about Grandma Patterson’s doughnuts. They are crunchy on the outside and absolutely taste like no other doughnuts. Please try and enjoy.

Here’s to you Grandma Patterson. Thank you.

Fettucine with Creamy Tomato and Sausage Sauce

Ever get tired of plain tomato sauce? Try this one: a family favorite for ten years. The