Celebrity Dish
FALL FOOD FUN
My people are from Ireland and England, and they are notoriously bad cooks," says Emmy-winner Charles Keating, who plays the notoriously bad Carl Hutchins on NBC's Another World. "When I was growing up, we
were a working-class family, so there were very basic things on the table and there was no experimentation,"he says. "I remember there were ration books during the war where you got an egg or two a week for the whole family. There were not a whole lot of culinary delights going on in our home."
Those lean years fueled Keating's taste for more creative cuisine. "I learned how to cook because I became so bored. I said, 'Oh, Christ, I've got to do something or I'm going to drive myself nuts. 'There is something very satisfying about that very ancient tradition of nurturing through food," he says.
Keating's favorite foods include roast leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary, mushroom roasts, and this holiday recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies, though he also enjoys simpler fare. "I'm a person who loves diners and all parts of American culture. I don't go searching for the latest, most wonderful-tasting wine or the latest restaurant or cuisines. One of my favorite dishes is bacon and eggs. To me, it's some kind of quintessential dish."
Charles Keating's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
1 stick butter or margarine
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 cup raisins
11/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
13/4 cup oats
Preheat oven to 350º F. Cream together butter and sugar. Add ingredients in order. Drop by the teaspoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until cooked through. Makes about 21/2 dozen.
TV Guide
November 16-22, 1996