Pat Quillen Parvin

By Published On: March 5, 2014

Pat Quillen Parvin got out her cookbook notebook and iPad to share her recipes–that’s how she cooks, she said. She loves getting recipes from Pinterest, and because she uses her black iron skillets now more than ever, she gets a lot of information from “Cast Iron Cooking” on Facebook.

 She has a big recipe collection and loves her cookbooks, but her “notebook” is “her treasure.”?It holds a lot of her mother’s recipes, along with those of many friends. She likes trying new things and says she is bad about taking from four or five recipes to make one her own.
She and husband, Gary, love cedar plank salmon, and he also likes to cook using the Big Green Egg–whether to smoke ham for the holidays, chateaubriand, or one of Pat’s favorites, lamb chops.

 She enjoys holiday cooking and prefers the traditional for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
She always makes her mother, Euris’, lima bean casserole for the holidays. For July 4, she might have ribs or chicken cooked in the Green Egg; potato salad, baked beans, crunchy cole slaw and homemade ice cream.

Pat learned to cook from her mother, and said she and sister, Paula, were “deemed the cooks” while youngest sister, Rita, was the dishwasher. Her brother, Eddie, “is our Boy Scout cook” and his son, Edmond, is the “real, certified chef.”
She and Eddie compete over who makes the best chicken and dressing, saying that she cooks a lot like her mother did. She commented that their father, the late Ed Quillen, was Euris’ dressing taster as she was making it.

Pat got the ham pie recipe from Estelle Cook almost 40 years ago and says you can use either ham or turkey. The crawfish pasta recipe is her basic one, but she “might change it up” each time she makes it.
“The spicier the better,” is what she says about food. She always adds minced garlic and says dry white wine is also good added to the sauce.
The crabmeat stuffed mushrooms and GMA rolls were two big hits at their annual friends’ Christmas party when they lived at the Reservoir in Jackson. Those two, plus the pasta, are three good party or reception foods. She also enjoys making finger foods.

Grandsons Colt and Connor McCormick love to help Pat make chicken and dumplings because they love them, and she makes cookies and brownies a lot for them.
Having grown up in a family of five children, big group cooking doesn’t faze Pat. She and Gary moved back to  Bruce about six months ago, but for seven or eight years, she headed up the “Reservoir Dawgs” tailgate group.

There were 21 couples that were divided into teams and for every football game each team was assigned appetizers, desserts, sides or main entree, with her deciding the entree. “We always planned to feed over 200 each tailgate,” she said.
She also enjoys getting together with and sometimes hosting a meal for a small group of her Bruce High School classmates who try to meet up once or twice a year.

Crawfish Pasta
Tony’s, to season
16 oz. crawfish tails
1 stick butter
1 cup chopped celery
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 can roasted garlic cream of mushroom soup
1 can milk
1 bag bowtie pasta, cooked
Saute veggies in butter; add crawfish, soup, milk seasoning. (I add a little S.R. flour or cornstarch to thicken slightly.) Before serving, add chopped green onions to sauce and stir into bowtie pasta.

GMA Rolls
1/2 tsp. ground red pepper
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
2 tsp. black pepper
Paprika and flour
2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 lb. ground beef and 1/2 lb. ground pork
2 cups chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green bell peppers
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
16 oz. cream cheese
3 rolls of crescent roll dough
Cook meat, onions, celery and bell peppers in butter until vegetables are tender and meat is brown. Add salt and pepper, stir. Add cream cheese and stir until it is melted. Remove from heat and let cool. Roll out crescent  dough?(4”x12 portions) on flour laden pan. Sprinkle dough with flour. Mold meat mixture into a log in center of dough. Fold dough over meat, securing ends to prevent it from spilling out. Sprinkle log with paprika, place in oven and bake at 375° approximately 10-12 minutes until pastry is brown. Remove meat-filled pastry from oven. Let cool before cutting into bite size portions. Serve warm.

Crabmeat Stuffed Mushrooms
4 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. flour
3 cups milk
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. red pepper
16 oz. crabmeat
1/4 cup sherry
Melt butter and add flour, stirring with wire whisk.  Add milk, stirring rapidly. Continue stirring until thickened and smooth. Add nutmeg, paprika, salt, red and black pepper, and stir. ?Add crabmeat and stir gently until mixture comes to a boil. Add sherry, remove from heat,  and stir. Place filling in large mushrooms and bake until tender.

Lima Bean Casserole
(Euris Quillen)
2 pkgs. frozen baby limas (cooked and drained)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups Pet milk
3 Tbsp. flour
Slivered almonds
Cook beans. Combine all remaining ingredients and cook until thickened, about 12 minutes. Place layer of beans and layer of sauce, until casserole is full. Bake 10-12 minutes. Sprinkle with slivered almonds on top. Slip under broiler and brown slightly.

Ham Pie
(Estelle Cook)
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 stick oleo
6 Tbsp. flour
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
3 cups milk
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 cups chopped ham
1 can pimiento, chopped
For biscuits: 1/2 cup grated cheese
1/2 cup milk
3 Tbps. lard
1 cup flour
Saute onion and pepper in oleo. Turn off heat. Add flour, chicken soup, milk, lemon juice, ham and pimiento. Cook until thickened. Pour into shallow casserole dish. Combine all other ingredients according to procedure for biscuits on top of pie. Roll, cut and place cheese biscuits on top of pie. Bake at 375° until lightly browned. Serves six.

Fruit Cocktail Cake

(Euris Quillen)

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp. soda

2 eggs

Juice of medium can fruit cocktail.

Mix two minutes, then add fruit. Pour into pan. Mix 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup nuts. Put on top of cake and bake 30-40 minutes at 350°. Icing: 1 tsp. vanilla flavoring 3/4 cup sugar Small can Pet milk 1 stick oleo 1 can coconut Cook together two minutes. Spread on cake while hot.

 

Melting Moments

1 cup butter

1 cup oil

1 cup sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

4 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cream of tartar

Combine butter, oil and sugars. Beat well. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Combine all dry ingredients and add to the creamed mixture. Beat well. Shape into 1” balls. place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 350° until slightly browned. (Put a little dough on bottom of glass before dipping in sugar.)

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