GREAT HOME COOKS : The Princess of Pralines

The oven timer has just gone off in Patricia McGarvey’s West Los Angeles kitchen, a sunny, lemon-yellow room with a white enamel Roper stove from the ‘30s and an exercise bicycle in the breakfast nook. Against one wall stands an antique cupboard fitted with leaded-glass windows and a wooden door that conceals a huge antique flour sifter.

McGarvey, a pretty, dark-haired woman, pulls a finished Cheese and Vegetable Pie out of the stove, touching the center to make sure the filling is set. Now, she says, it’s time to start her famous Pecan Pralines.

“I’ve been cooking since about age 9,” she says as she measures white and brown sugar into an enameled cast-iron casserole. “My Mom was a great cook, and when I was as little as 4 or 5, I was making cinnamon rolls with leftover pie dough. I guess I really got into it when we went to live in Japan; it was either learn about new foods or starve, and as a teen-ager, starving was not an option.”

A self-described “Air Force brat,” McGarvey has lived in Japan, England, Alabama, Texas, Virginia and California--among other places. At each stop, it seems, she picked up a favorite food or two and has combined them into a formidable repertoire.

“Whenever I look at the price of pecans,” she says, “it reminds me of when I lived in Abilene. I would always ride my horse through pecan groves and when I wanted some nuts, I could just rake up as many as I could carry.”

Adding milk to the sugar, McGarvey grabs a wooden spoon and begins to stir. “These pecan pralines are my oldest recipe,” she says. “The first time I made them, they started to cook too fast and then started to clump up on me. I just let them clump, then put the pot back on the heat and added hot water, a tablespoon at a time, and beat all the clumps out.

“I found that it made them taste better than the original pralines, which were too crystalline. These are really creamy, like the ones I remember from Farolita’s Mexican food restaurant in Abilene, which is where I had the best pecan pralines ever.

“When I first made this, the instructions said to be careful when you were heating the milk and sugar because it would boil up and could burn you,” she says, still stirring. “The first couple of years I used the world’s longest wooden spoon and rubber gloves. Now I’ve got asbestos fingers.”

“I love to cook,” says McGarvey, “but my biggest problem is that I can’t cook for less than six people. My smallest pot is like a cauldron. I learned to cook with my family, but now my family’s scattered all over the United States. So I make my own family. At least once a week I invite people over and cook dinner for them. If I’m not cooking for other people, I just don’t enjoy it as much.”

McGarvey was nominated as a Great Home Cook by Karyn Zoldan. The two met via computer. Zoldan runs a public-access computer bulletin board called Modem Butterfly’s Connection. McGarvey, a computer consultant to small businesses who lays claim to being the “queen of culinary trivia,” now runs the board’s food club. (The club, which can be reached by modem at (310) 841-6900 or (818) 787-6900, now numbers about 1,000 subscribers, who pay roughly $45 a year to sign on and chat.)

“From the first I thought she was incredibly articulate and very knowledgeable about a lot of things,” says Zoldan. “She took me for the special tamales at El Cholo. I took her to the Grand Central Market and then to La Serenata de Garibaldi. We like to go exploring together.”

As she continues to stir, McGarvey watches the candy thermometer carefully. The praline syrup should cook to 255 degrees. After a few minutes, discretion gets the better part of valor and she discards her wooden spoon (“This one was getting just a little too short”) and picks up a long-handled rice stirrer.

Once the praline mixture reaches the correct temperature, she removes it from the heat and lets it stand. Then she begins to beat it vigorously with the rice stirrer. One moment shiny and glossy, it seizes almost instantly, clumping up so it looks like grainy, poorly beaten cake frosting.

“See, that’s what you look for,” McGarvey says. “When it does that, put it back on the heat and add the hot water and beat it until the lumps come out. This is what takes a great right arm. Whenever my sister asks me to fix these for her, I tell her if she wants to come help, that’s the only way she’s getting any.”

A fine sweat breaks out on her forehead, and she begins to puff a bit as she vigorously beats the sugar syrup.

“According to the original recipe, this is when you put the pecans in and pour it out onto wax paper. Yeah right,” she says. “It really looks like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve ruined it,’ but it always comes out. Just wait till you taste.”

As she says that, the syrup smoothes out and re-liquefies. With an easy, practiced motion, she picks up a stack of paper muffin cups and distributes them on a pull-out cutting board. Into each cup she places three or four pecans. She ladles the syrup in on top.

While the pralines cool, McGarvey is still for a moment at her dining room table, set with light-blue Harlequin ware (“You know, the only place they sold this stuff was Woolworth’s”) and antique linens she picked up at the Long Beach Flea Market. Over the Vegetable-Cheese Pie, the talk turns to cookbooks, of which she has several bookshelves.

“I’ve been a subscriber to Gourmet since God knows when and I’ve still got my first copy. I like antique cookbooks too. I’ve got a Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook that’s got the best ginger cookie; that I make every Christmas. I like books in general, but if it’s a cookbook, that’s even better.”

McGarvey goes over to check on the pralines. They’re ready. She carefully pulls the papers off each one and stacks them in a small dish. Then she offers them. Still slightly warm, they are indeed as creamy and sweet as she’d promised.

This recipe can be dangerous, so be sure to use a deep saucepan and a long-handled wooden spoon to minimize the danger of being splattered by boiling sugar.

PAMMY’S PERFECT PRALINES

2 cups pecan halves, preferably roasted

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup dark-brown sugar, packed

3 tablespoons dark corn syrup

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Hot water

Divide pecans into 18 cupcake papers. Set aside.

Combine granulated and brown sugars, corn syrup and milk in deep, heavy 3-quart saucepan. Stir until sugar dissolves and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. As mixture goes from jelly to medium-ball stage (255 degrees), it will foam and bubble. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Add vanilla, beating with wooden spoon until mixture begins to lose its gloss. Mixture will stiffen and begin to lump.

Return to medium-high heat, add very hot water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat out lumps. When lumps are all or nearly-all gone and mixture is liquid again, spoon into pecan-filled cupcake papers. Let stand 30 to 45 minutes.

Remove papers from pralines. Store in airtight container. Makes 18 pralines.

Each praline contains about:

169 calories; 9 mg sodium; 1 mg cholesterol; 8 grams fat; 24 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0.2 grams fiber; 44% calories from fat.

CHEESE-AND-VEGETABLE PIE

2 bunches spinach, washed

Butter

1/4 cup yellow onion, diced

2 small zucchini, thinly sliced

6 large mushrooms, diced

2 ounces Danish-style ham, diced

1 pound skim-milk ricotta cheese

4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated, or substitute Swiss

1 egg, lightly beaten

Nutmeg

Salt

White pepper

2 teaspoons olive oil

Put spinach into medium skillet and cook, using just moisture on leaves. Remove from pan and chop finely. Squeeze out all moisture and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion, zucchini and mushrooms. Saute until onion is tender and translucent.

Add ham and spinach and saute briefly to warm. Remove from heat and put in mixing bowl.

Add ricotta and Gruyere cheeses to vegetables and blend. Add beaten egg and blend. Season to taste with nutmeg, salt and white pepper and blend.

Grease quiche pan or deep pie plate with olive oil to coat. Pour in mixture and smooth top with spatula. Dot with 3 to 4 pats of butter.

Bake at 425 degrees 45 to 50 minutes until top is browned and knife inserted in center comes out clean. Makes 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:

275 calories; 427 mg sodium; 94 mg cholesterol; 19 grams fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 19 grams protein; 0.7 grams fiber; 62% calories from fat.