Potlikkery

strawberry surprise

It's strawberry time in East Tennessee. Bought these fresh off the Scott's truck, so to speak, yesterday afternoon. I spotted the Scott's building set up in Mize's parking lot earlier this week and ached to stop by and buy a gallon. This year's crop looks lovelier than last years. And the smell? Oh, it's heavenly.

So I have a special strawberry dessert in mind for these. Hope it comes out well. Will let y'all know. But, don't hate me, cause I have fresh, locally grown, strawberries! May go back and buy a greater amount to freezer or can or preserve in some manner.

food pairings

Normally I don't worry about pairing a beverage with food because my two beverages of choice, water and unsweet iced tea, go with everything. Almost forgot milk. I'm drinking my weight in milk these days. Nothing suits me better than hormone-free milk with every meal.  But there are plenty of folks out there who fret and send themselves into a tizzy trying to perfectly pair beverage to entree.

Now that He Said Beer, She Said Wine (2008) is on bookshelves, those folks can quit worrying and start enjoying life and eating and drinking a bit more. It's a slick book. Lots of colors, lots of photos. Wow.

It's written by Sam Calagione, the beer man, and Marnie Old, the sommelier. They duke it out round after round to prove that beer, or wine, is the best accompaniment to each dish presented in the book. Before they enter the ring, there are pages and pages that introduce the reader to each beverage, it's strengths, and weaknesses. Old deconstructs wine labels and informs the reader about what region is known for what kind of wine, as Calagione does with beer.

The authors then pair their respective beer or wine with cheese, vegetables, sandwiches, pizza and pasta, spicy food, shellfish, regular old fish, poultry, meat, desserts, and fruits. Following that up are specific guidelines for hosting your own wine vs. beer debate at home. It's a fabulous idea and surely great fun.

The only problem I foresee is procuring some of these beers and wines. If you don't live in a very, very urban area, finding the beer varieties Calagione touts, may be difficult. Likewise with the wine selections that Old makes.

Be sure to leave a comment. I'll pick one to send a copy of this book to.

seriously unstructured scones

Believe it or not, my favorite scone recipe is one of Tyler Florence's. It's from Real Kitchen. Can't quote you the page number though.

What is finer than a sweet biscuit? When I was young, I'd only eat the innards of a biscuit because the tough bottom and crunchy tops didn't suit me. I liked that tender in-between bread best of all. Also made sure my Mamaw cut the crusts of my toast, or else I nibbled around the edges and left all those cripsy crusts behind. I'm still that way, sometimes. And mostly I ate homemade biscuits and rolls, but occasionally there'd be one of those kinds that come in the cans you had to pop open. I can't recall the exact name of the brand, but there was one whose innards peeled apart in fine layers. That was a treat, but didn't last too terribly long. had to go through biscuit after biscuit after...

But Tyler's scone recipe is my favorite because you don't overwork the dough. You sift flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder together first, mix in 5 tablespoons of butter, then make a well for the heavy cream, then fold in the berries. I probably under work the dough, and that's why my scones are seriously unstructured. These aren't scones that you roll out and use a cookie cutter on. Tyler tells you to make a rough rectangle then cut that in half, then in fourths, and then slice those into triangles. It works.

They fall apart when you lift them from the parchment paper. I usually skip the lemon glaze, though I'm sure it's tasty. I've made these with all kinds of berries, but blueberries are my favorite and I happen to have at least two more pints in my fridge; usually they accompany my morning cereal.

These were Sunday's breakfast. Yum. Hot from the oven. No need for butter at all.

the french toastiest

I took the day off today because I could. And because Ian would be home much of the day. Having him home for almost an entire day is rare, so I wanted to spend my day with him. He got up, let out the dogs, and unknownst to me, ate a bowl of cereal while he fed our pack of dogs.

I texted him and asked if he wanted French Toast this morning. But he left his phone on the bedside table. I called him on the home phone and that is when he told me he ate cereal.

"But go ahead and make French Toast," he said. "I'll eat a piece."

So I came into the kitchen, got out my utensils and pan, and got to work. Just used two slices of sourdough bread from a loaf he picked up at the store a few days ago. It was well into the loaf, so those slices were huge. Dipped them in two beaten eggs, then threw them into my pan all slicked up with melted butter.

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They cooked in no time. I finished up mine with blueberries, confectioner's sugar, and a little white corn syrup. Ian's had the confectioner's sugar and Mrs. Butterworth's. No blueberries for him.

Great way to start out the day with a semi-hot (cause it had cooled in the time I took me to snap a few photos) home-cooked breakfast.

bananas today