The Johnell Family
Recipes
Seasoned with a Mother’s Love at Christmas
December 25, 2007
The Johnell family cookbook — Yaya’s Greek classics, Mom and Dad’s dinner-table legends, and the full Thanksgiving spread — typed up with love in 2007 and kept warm ever since.
Appetizers
μεζέδες · mezethes
The little dishes that started every holiday — folded, stuffed, and rolled by hand, usually with three generations crowded around the counter.
Yaya’s Yaplakia
Stuffed Grapevine Leaves
Grapevine leaves rolled around sirloin and rice, packed in snug circles, and pressure-cooked until the steam cap wobbles — then bathed in lemon.
From Yaya
Yaya’s Tiropetes
Cheese Pies
Four cheeses folded into fillo triangles like little flags, brushed with butter, and baked golden on both sides.
From Yaya
Yaya’s Spanakopetes
Spinach Pies
Spinach, feta, dill, and scallions wrapped in buttered fillo and folded the way you fold the American flag.
From Yaya
Papu’s Stuffed Celery Sticks
Crisp celery filled with blended Maytag Blue and cream cheese, with a little Hungarian paprika for color.
From Papu
Shrimp Fondue
Listed on page 1.6 of the original table of contents, but the page itself never made it into our copy of the book. If you remember how it went, tell Tom.
A lost page
Main Courses
κυρίως πιάτα
Sunday dinners and school-night favorites — half from Yaya’s Greece, half from Mom and Dad’s American kitchen, all of them served with warm bread.
Yaya’s Pastitsio
Ziti and cinnamon-less Greek meat sauce under a deep blanket of la crema, baked until golden and cut into proud squares.
From Yaya
Yaya’s Moussaka
Layers of potato — and a corner of eggplant — with simmered meat sauce, baked low and slow in one big pan.
From Yaya
Mom’s Meatloaf
Lean sirloin with Romano and Worcestershire, shaped like a bread loaf with a channel down the middle to hold more ketchup.
From Mom
Mom’s Stew
Paprika-crusted beef browned in olive oil, then simmered for hours with carrots, celery, onions, and potatoes until the sauce begs for bread.
From Mom
Mom’s Chili Relleños
Whole roasted chilies stuffed with Monterey Jack, wrapped in cloud-light egg batter, fried, and finished in simmering tomato sauce.
From Mom
Dad’s Super Secret Barbequed Ribs
Racks of baby backs seared over the fire, then sauced and turned, sauced and turned, until every side wears a crisp glaze.
From Dad
Dad’s Spaghetti
A big pot of meat sauce — Italian tomatoes broken up by hand, seasoned by feel — over thin spaghetti.
From Dad
Mom’s Twice-Baked Potatoes
Jumbo bakers scooped out and remixed with sour cream, sharp cheddar, and scallions, then piled high and browned again.
From Mom
Roast Leg of Lamb
with Roasted Potatoes & Wine Gravy
A whole leg studded with garlic slivers, roasted over Gravy Master water with potatoes that drink up everything.
Yaya’s Stuffed Peppers
Promised on page 2.3 of the original table of contents, but the page was lost somewhere between 2007 and now. The peppers live on in memory.
A lost page
Thanksgiving at the Johnells’
η μεγάλη γιορτή
The whole production — giblet gravy simmering all morning, two stuffings because one was never enough, and Grandmother Joan Temple’s snow salad setting in the fridge.
See the full Thanksgiving menu, as Mom printed it →
Dad’s Giblet Gravy
Giblets simmered the whole time the turkey roasts, married to the pan drippings, strained twice, and finished with wine.
From Dad
Mom’s Bread Stuffing
Pepperidge Farm cubes soaked in good chicken stock with celery and onion — and famously, NO butter.
From Mom
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Fresh cranberries and sugar, ten minutes at a boil, then chilled overnight — better if you make it a day ahead.
From Mom
Snow Salad
Cream cheese, fruit cocktail, pecans, and whipped cream set in a gelatin mold overnight — unmolded with a dip in hot water.
From Grandmother Joan Temple
Grandmother’s Candied Sweet Potatoes
Boiled sweet potatoes peeled smooth and bright, drizzled with brown-sugar syrup, dotted with butter and walnut halves.
From Grandmother Joan Temple
Yaya’s Chestnut Stuffing
Chestnuts, pine nuts, white raisins, and cinnamon folded into rice and sirloin — made the day before, always.
From Yaya
Mom’s Creamed Onions
Little white onions in a nutmeg cream sauce with a few drops of Tabasco — the dish that disappeared first.
From Mom