My Favorite Recipes

Linda Shea did not take a direct route to Whitman County from Portland, where she was born and raised. She majored in theology at Seattle University, and her first job was in religious education at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Federal Way. While there, she earned an MA in religious education. After three years in the convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, she knew that her faith was important, but she wasn’t suited for the convent.

Her next adventure was a job in a fish company and as director of music and liturgy at St. Anthony Parish in Renton. A young adult group there provided an introduction to Joe Shea, who was a flying instructor at Boeing Field. During their engagement, she was in Alaska until four days before their wedding. The priest who married them teased that if she were delayed, he might have to marry them over the radio. It was 1984, and Linda thought she would always live somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.

In March of 1985, Joe was hired to fly bank notes from Oakland all over Northern California. She looked for a job and was hired, but only lasted three weeks. In that short time, Joe was hired by Westair as a commercial pilot. Katie and Monica were born during the three and a half years they lived in Fresno.

Joe’s next job change took him to United Airlines. In December of 1988, Linda and the girls moved to Colfax to live with his parents, Jerry and Nancy Shea, while Joe trained. His domicile was Chicago, so they bought a house in Joliet, Ill., eventually moving to nearby Plainfield where Karen and Brian were born.

While raising kids, Linda played guitar in a folk group, led a mom’s group, worked in vacation Bible school, sang in the choir, and started a liturgy of the word for children during worship services.

When it was time to go back to work, Linda was hired by the new parish near them as music coordinator and was inspired to earn her master’s degree. The University of St. Francis offered a scholarship so that she could earn her BA in music while coordinating events, twenty-two events each year for the music department.

Joe and Linda enjoyed traveling with their children over the years. They crossed the country from Chicago to Yellowstone Park, camping along the way. They carried 200 books in their car for the voracious readers on board.

The children were five years, three years, seventeen months, and due in less than two months when they went to Disney World. Joe remarked that they should wait until the baby was five before they went again. Most trips were to visit her family in Oregon, skiing Mt. Hood in the winter, and Colfax in the summer to play with cousins, swim and ride horses.

While growing up, the Shea children rode horses, took music lessons, played in the marching band, and the girls sang in choir. All four are out of high school now and live in the Chicago area. Joe and Linda moved to Colfax to help his father care for his brother. Katie is a flight attendant with GoJet, Monica is a bookseller at Barnes and Noble, Karen will graduate from French pastry school in June, and Brian is a junior at Illinois Institute of Technology in computer science.

The extended Shea family will gather in Ellensburg in July, and Joe and Linda are looking forward to having all the kids together.

Since moving to Colfax, Linda has begun teaching fifth and sixth grade religious education class and sings in the folk choir at St. Patrick’s Church. She also is a substitute cantor (song leader) at Sacred Heart Church in Pullman. A book group, her first political caucus and Bible study are new activities, and she has sung a little with a group at St. Thomas More on WSU campus. This August, she will audition for the Palouse Chorale.

Recipe:

Carne Asada

Carne asada is the thinly sliced, grilled beef served so often in tacos and burritos. It is also commonly served as is, with rice and beans on the side. Although almost any cut of beef can be butterflied into thin sheets for the carne asada, typically it is made from flank steak or skirt steak. It can be grilled just with salt and pepper for flavorings, or it can be marinated. The following is a recipe for marinated carne asada.

2 pounds flank or skirt steak

olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Marinade:

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced.

1 teaspoon freshly ground cumin seed (best to lightly toast the seeds first, then grind)

1 large handful fresh cilantro, leaves and stems, finely chopped

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 limes, juiced

2 Tablespoons white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup olive oil

Combine marinade ingredients and pour the marinade over the steak. Make sure each piece is well coated. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1-4 hours.

Preheat the grill over medium-high flame. (You can also use a cast iron grill pan on high heat for stove-top cooking.) Brush the grates with a little oil to prevent the meat from sticking. Remove the meat from the marinade. If cooking indoors, brush off excess marinade as the bits may burn and smoke on the hot pan. Season both sides of the steak pieces with salt and pepper. Grill the pieces for a few minutes only, on each side, depending on how thin they are, until medium rare to well done, to your preference. You may need to work in batches. Remove the steak pieces to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Thinly slice the steak across the grain on a diagonal.

(Optional) Serve with warm flour and corn tortillas. Warm the tortillas for 30 seconds on each side in a dry skillet or on the grill, until toasty and pliable. Alternatively, you can warm tortillas in a microwave: heating one or two at a time, place tortillas on a paper towel and microwave them for 15 to 20 seconds each on high.

(Optional) Serve with fresh tomato salsa and chopped avocados.

Bran Muffins the Frugal Way

5 teaspoons baking soda

4 cups All-Bran

1 cup butter

2 cups 40% bran flakes

2 cups sugar

5 cups all-purpose flour

4 eggs

1 quart buttermilk

Dissolve the baking soda in 2 cups boiling water. Set aside to cool. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar; beat in eggs. Stir in by hand remaining ingredients. Finally, stir in the soda water.

Keep the batter covered in the refrigerator for weeks. Bake in muffin pans in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Yield: 6 dozen muffins.

Halibut Vera Cruz

Recipe courtesy Guy Fieri

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup thinly sliced yellow onion

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

2 cups diced tomato

1 medium jalapeno, diced

1 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons butter

4 (8-ounce) halibut fillets

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup Spanish olives , cut into thin rounds, plus 2 tablespoons olive juice from bottle

2 medium avocados, peeled and sliced

tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro leaves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook until lightly colored, about 3 minutes. Add tomato, jalapeno and white wine. Cook until wine is reduced by 2/3, about 5 to 7 minutes. While sauce is reducing, heat butter in a separate skillet over medium heat. Season fish with kosher salt. When butter is melted, add halibut to the pan. Cook for 2 minutes, flip over and then transfer pan to preheated oven and bake until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove sauce from heat when reduced and stir in olives and olive juice.

To serve, divide sauce equally among 4 dinner plates. Place halibut (first caramelized side up) in the center of each plate on top of the sauce. Place avocado slices on top of fish, sprinkle with lime juice and cilantro, as garnish.