Potlikkery

oh sweetie pie, my sweetie pie

Wednesday morning while I ate my less than appealing oatmeal (had run out of Quaker Oats and settled for instant oatmeal in a bag) I flipped through Sweety Pies. Admired it for a while, and then saw that a Nova made her rice pie, and decided then and there that I ought not be without this book. I read several types of pies aloud to Ian, along with their ingredients. Soon, he laid down the book he was reading and took up Sweetie Pies to browse it's colorful pages filled to the brim with photos of pies.

He picked up pie crusts and berries for me at the grocery store a few days ago because I told him I wanted to make a pie. This was before we both looked at the book. I'd planned to make some type of fruity pie, much along the same lines as every other fruity pie I make. This one had 5 nectarines, a pint of blueberries, a Gala apple, and maybe 2/3 cup of bing cherries. Besides that I added about a 1/2 to 2/3 cup of sugar, and about as much flour to make the juice a bit thicker. Maybe a teaspoon of cinnamon, which I don't normally add, a pinch of salt, and ginger. I love ginger flavoring in a pie. Probably added about a teaspoon and a half. Then baked for 40 minutes at 350 (F) degrees.

It baked that morning while I showered. Then waiting until I got home from a late late night at work to sample it was devilish, really. Ian wondered why I didn't taste it after baking it, but it had to cool. Anyway, I sliced it into several small pieces and had a bite last night. Pure heaven. Yum. Love me some fruity pie.

Besides its fabulous recipes, Sweety Pies includes the author's anecdotes. She can make anything relate to pie. Seriously. She is talented. She talked about her mother, or maybe it was her grandmother always painting her toenails red. She thought her husband never noticed that extra step she took to keep herself looking purdy. She stopped painting her toenails. Wouldn't you know, that her husband, who never said the first word about how nice her toes looked, suddenly commented on the fact that her toenails weren't looking so lovely anymore. All this was a segue into a cherry pie recipe. 

Something I really like about her book is that the flavor combinations excite me. They're not run of the mill. They don't disappoint the palate, at least, at the level of contemplation or anticipation. So yeah, I'm dying to try the same rice pie that Nova made. And there's an oatmeal, pecan, and coconut pie that Ian and I are slobbering over. There were more, many more. It's just that my memory is failing me since I don't have the book before me. She's tempted me to make my own pie crusts. I don't bother with that. Those Pillsbury roll up pie crusts do the trick for me every time.

best shaggy biscuits evah

Sunday Ian and I...nope. Sunday I was ravenous. After my late breakfast of scrambled eggs I tried convincing Ian it was in his best interest to make pancakes. Not only for me, but for us both. After all, he is the most pancake loving man I know. He didn't budge off the couch. My mind turned to biscuits. I've had Breakfast Book checked out from the library for weeks now. Discovered its existence thanks to Slashfood.

The first recipe that appealed to me was the Ginger Shortbread, which is on my list to make very, very soon. Since it was handy, I opened to the Quick Breads section and looked for a biscuit recipe. And there, I found it. My very favorite biscuit recipe ever. I've tried various recipes over the years. Most make passable biscuits. Nothing too special, or memorable. Not until now.

Marion Cunningham's recipe for biscuits is wonderful. Where there's heavy cream involved, deliciousness only follows. Her recipe is quick and simple and perfect, really. She says to add more heavy cream if the dough is shaggy. Have never heard that term before now. You cut the dough into squares, dip both sides in butter, and bake 'em in the oven for 15 minutes.

I'm the original dough girl, and I must say, I must sigh, that these biscuits are the fluffiest, yummiest biscuits I've ever made. I liked them best with butter only, cause I'm just that way. Ian slathered some of Laura's apple butter all over his. Yup, these biscuits got his butt up off the couch and into the kitchen. Oh, the power of biscuits.

egg salad sammich

Made my egg salad Friday night. Sandwich bread loaf, too.  It's all completely Foose-inspired. I want to call her Fosse for some reason. Suppose it's that I'm more familiar with that name.

Foose's egg salad includes olives, something I like on their own, but not mixed in much except that dressing slathered on a mufaletta. And she called for onions or scallions, too. But I had none of those on hand.

Normally with protein/mayo salad-type dishes I stick to my own rather than try new ones. It's silly, I know. But I'm so particular when it comes to protein salads. Like ham salad? Oh, I'd never try that. When we visit Ian's relative in Canton, OH there's usually talk of picking up a ham salad from and my mind shrinks back from the very thought of that. It sounds wrong. It's likely quite good. What do I know?

The other thing about me and protein salads is that I made them different each time, rarely keeping track of ingredient amounts. I'd rather taste my way to protein salad perfection. This time though, I wrote it down. Here's this month's egg salad recipe:

12 eggs, boiled and de-shelled
4T Hellman's mayonnaise
1T vinegar
2 tsp. sweet relish
2 tsp. sugar
1tsp. mustard powder
1tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1tsp. ground pepper

I texted Ian to ask how he boils eggs, because they usually come out well and he's naturally takes charge of any egg cooking in the house especially if it's for deviled eggs. He said, and I'm fleshing it out a bit, "Put the eggs in the pot and let them warm as the water does. Let them boil for ten minutes." I'm notorious for cooking eggs like 20 minutes or so, but I don't think it damages them.

After peeling them I throw them in a medium sized bowl and add the ingredients random-like.  When I got most everything in there, I tasted and found it lacking. That's when I added the vinegar and sweet relish. Since I'm supposed to cut down on my salt intake (my blood pressure was elevated for me, but still in normal range at my last OB appointment) I went lighter on that than normal. And I'm supposed to watch my sugar, too, just not to over do it. But then, the egg salad wasn't sweet enough and that's when I thought of the sweet relish. I think my mom used to put that in her egg salad until she went olive on me. She does the olives and olive juice in deviled eggs, too, and frankly ruins it for me.

 

The sandwich loaf bread? Oh, how I wish I'd read the recipe thorough. I'm bad to not read ahead with recipes and knitting patterns and sewing instructions. I started on it around 5 o'clock, after getting home from work Friday night. First couple of steps are easy and take no time at all. Then I have to cover for 10 minutes. Then work some salt into it. Then cover for an hour. Then fold it a certain way and let it rise for 11 1/2 to 2 hours. Then do something else to it and let it rise another hour. Surely the bread would be in the oven by 9 o'clock, right? 

 

But no, the bread came out of the oven around 11 o'clock. I let it cool and ate a few slices for breakfast Saturday morning. Then Ian arrived home and sampled both eggs salad and bread. He didn't mind the burnt bottom. Yeah, the bottom was burned. I was bummed about that. Foose's directions said to remove the bread from it's loaf pan and set it directly on the rack. The bottom rack. Bread set on bottom rack equals burned bottom.

Ponchatoula is (bone fide) alright with me

Wouldn't you know that as soon as I bowed to the common ingredient list including box cake mix and strawberry flavored gelatin in the making of my strawberry cupcakes, that I'd come across a bone fide strawberry cupcake recipe? Just my poor old luck, really. But sort of scary, too. Like somehow, months ago when Foose dreamed up this cookbook, she included this recipe just for my sake. To redeem my hurt feelings about whether my cupcakes were "from scratch," for real. It was predestined. 

Screen Doors and Sweet Tea arrived a day or two ago via our U.S. Postal Service. Couldn't help myself from browsing it immediately. The cover photo is super inviting; just completely appealing to my particular preference for food styling. And I'm the first fool in line handing over her credit card to buy almost any and every southern-themed cookbook. Now I don't call myself a fool because these cookbook authors are fooling me into something. No matter that they all have almost the same recipes inside.  There are always a few gems in each one. And certainly that is the cake with SCAST. 

I'm referring to her Ponchatoula Strawberry Cupcakes recipe. Batter made from scratch, and icing too, just what I dreamed of about a week ago. It's not too late though. There are still fresh, locally grown strawberries around. Must seek them out. Sadly, I barely used a whole pint of the gallon I bought. 

Frigid fruit and veggies taste terrible to me, so my berries sat out on my counter, and we're using that natural air conditioning a.k.a windows open. So they spoiled quicker than they should have if they were tucked into my fridge. Can you imagine knitted woolen strawberry cozies to keep each one warm inside that dreadful old icebox? I can.  The sad thing was throwing most of the lot out. Actually, the white fuzzy, almost projectile, mold forming on my berries reminded me of those fuzzy winter muffs that you see little girls of Currier & Ives era paintings carrying along on a sleigh ride, or an ice skating jaunt.

Foose covers a Delta meal from cocktails and appetizers on through magnificent, decadent traditional southern desserts. She grew up in the Mississippi Delta, then traveled a bit to work in big city kitchens. Then went off to cooking school in France, so her rendition of these southern favorites is well-informed. Right off her Cantaloupe daiquiri tempted me to throw caution to the wind about fetal alcohol syndrome and imbibe in such a delight. Yet, I shouldn't drink. And won't. But I'm keeping this one in mind for when I can have alcohol again. 

But I could have her Blackberry Limeade which looks refreshing and like it would soothe my nerves. The food photography/styling is delicious and enhances Foose's recipes. Unfortunately the scenic photography of the Delta, interspersed with those glimpses of heavenly southern food, appear more like stock photos and lack the intimacy and lushness of the latter.

Each recipe begins with a Foose anecdote. Readers learn about her great uncle Thompson alongside  Catfish Ceviche. Thompson preferred sleek cars to big old trucks so popular with all the Delta menfolk, and opened his catfish farming business in 1958.  A large sidebar following the recipe teaches the reader about the spawning and hatching of catfish.

There are lots of expected dishes like gumbo, turtle soup, cheese, grits, mac n cheese, country fried steak, and dumplings. Then there's the unexpected: Barq's Root Beer-Glazed Ham. This one, we'll have to try. Despite the kitsch factor of cooking meat in a soda pop brine, I declare that the end product tastes mighty good and receives rave reviews from our families.

The combination of her photo of egg salad and the recipe for Good Sandwich Loaf bread tempted my tummy, and pulled up to the Shamrock's drive-thru and bought an egg salad sandwich for lunch yesterday with eventual making of my own in mind. Already got lots of eggs for the egg salad and all the makings for the sandwich loaf. 

Those desserts...well, none of them jumped out at me like Sweet Tea Pie. Ooooooo-eee. I'll have to try that. Foose described it like so: 

The flavor tastes like state fair saltwater taffy, and the texture is like pecan pie without the pecans. I think you will enjoy it.

Last night on the phone I told Ian about the book and it's banana pudding recipe from scratch. Since we had a bad experience with the last from scratch banana pudding we made, um, we're reluctant to try it again. Another recipe that caught my eye was Brown Sugar Angel Food Cake. It takes 14 egg whites. Now that is a lot of cracking and separating of eggs. Though I don't ever yearn for angel food cake, that brown sugar twist might keep my interest long enough to try one. 

Be sure to read Fosse's notes to the left or the right of each recipe. She says to separate your eggs a day before making the Brown Sugar Angel Food Cake and that night-before step will result in a higher cake. When it comes to Angel Food, the higher, the better, you know, closer to the Pearly Gates and all those angels with their harps and halos. 

Come July Ian and I head west to Nashville and then south down the Natchez Trace, so I'm mostly hoping that we'll get a taste of good Mississippi cuisine, though it may not be Delta in origin, least not until we arrive at Natchez proper. Any recommendations, anyone?

strawberry delight

Recipes for Strawberry Cake that I found online disappointed me. Gelatin? Frozen strawberries? Ugh. Those ingredients seemed lame. Instead, I turned to my Blue Willow Inn cookbook. It's subtitle is "Bible of Southern Cooking," and I must say, that every recipe  I've made from the book turns out Delish!

Their recipe is simple, and similar to the ones found online, actually. So I was disappointed, skeptical, but tried it anyway. One box of butter cake mix, 3/4 cup of oil, 4 eggs, one box of strawberry gelatin, and one 10oz box of frozen strawberries, thawed.

Naturally, I used fresh strawberries. And I used much much more than the 4-5 oz they suggested for the cake's batter. I made cupcakes, two dozen of them, in fact, special-like for Rebekah's birthday. Ian helped me make a decision on what to top the icing with: sprinkles or strawberry slices. He asked "What will the kids like?" Oh, sprinkles, I suppose. So there was my answer.

Rebekah leads Biscuit

Rebekah is one of the sweetest young women I know. She turned 18 on Saturday, and I felt bad that I didn't have anything other than the strawberry cupcakes for her. But, she liked 'em. I took them over to Mize in Gray, Tn. because Rebekah worked Horse Days. She thanked me for them. Even asked, "Did you MAKE them?" Of course. All from scratch, ma'am!

And then had so much batter left over that I made a one layer cake as well. Didn't use their icing recipe. Used the one that Nigella suggests for her Guinness chocolate cake: creme cheese, confectioner's sugar, and whipping cream.

Sadly, no photos of cupcakes. They never look as grand as ones others make. I either overfill the cups or underfill them. This time, I underfilled them, and their appearance was rather poor. Sad, actually. Yet, they tasted good. I was very pleased with how they came out. Yum. Super good. Will definitely make this recipe again. And even though my batter and icing were much more strawberry loaded than the recipe called for, I still had at least a half pint of berries remaining in that container. So now what to do with the remaining 3 pints?

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 gypsy flies with sweet melissa

From the moment I opened The Sweet Melissa Baking Book, I knew my relationship with this cookbook would be different. First, lots of her recipes appealed to my sense of taste immediately. That doesn't always happen. Like that Magnolia book? Eh. I opened, I browsed, and I never made the first thing from the book because while the products looked appealing, their flavor combinations were short of interesting me.

Another aspect to my fondness for Sweet Melissa is the book's design. The cover art is delicious. Its typography is inviting and I love the honey bees buzzing around the page. There are at least six or eight glossy pages of photos showing off the dishes with delightful styling.

And every time I think about the book, that line from the Allman Brothers tune haunts me. I'm hearing it in my head. Will have to get out my Allman Brothers greatest hits CD and listen to it in the kitchen. But hey, what is more appropriate in a southern kitchen than listening to the Allman Brothers? Okay, I can name at least a dozen other good old southern fried rockers or creoles or folkies or bluegrass or blues people to listen to in the kitchen. But it's Allman Brothers in honor of Sweet Melissa.

As a huge fan of cooking with Guinness, I stopped at the Guinness Gingerbread, and it was the first recipe I tried. Loved that it uses white pepper and a generous amount of ginger. There's also dutch process cocoa, which I found unusual, because my favorite gingerbread recipe, circa 1934 from the only cookbook my Mamaw Lestie owned and cooked from certainly doesn't put that much ginger in there or any white pepper at all in there.

For at least two weeks now I've hoped for the energy to get in the kitchen and cook. My health has been iffy. Nothing serious, just dead dog tired all the time, and so lounging on the couch reading or knitting appeals to me much more than serious work in the kitchen. Anyway, I worked through my tiredness, donned a new fancy Anthropologie apron I bought in Seattle or Philadelphia, and turned to the recipe.

I had all the ingredients! I bought fresh eggs and a package of dark brown sugar at the store in advance. I was ready. I preheated the oven. I buttered and floured my square pan. But it wasn't the 9 x 9 x 2 that Melissa Murphy indicated. I wasn't about to go out and buy one. I was ready to bake. And I wondered what kind of difference it made in the end.

It didn't. The 8 x 8 x 2 pan I had on hand, or in cupboard,  worked fine. It worked perfectly.

Threw all the dry ingredients together into a bowl and then read that I should SIFT. So I sifted. That wasn't a major deal. I love to sift, actually, it so throws me back to my childhood and cooking with Mamaw because she almost always had something for me to sift. And I have an old-fashioned sifter like hers, though not hers.

Had to use a brand of molasses I wasn't thrilled with. But since I don't keep it on hand, I used what I had, and it did the trick.  Ian spied the bowl later and asked what I made with chocolate in it. I suggested that what he thought was chocolate was actually molasses.

Then it baked for 50-60 minutes. At 48 minutes I inserted the wooden end of a matchstick into the cake and nothing came off. Yeah, I looked around for toothpicks. This is not the first time I've used a matchstick in a pinch. Ian didn't find the toothpicks, either, and so he pulled the plastic off a new box of matches and handed me one.

I cut the Guinness Gingerbread into 9 pieces and put two on two plates for our dessert. It was thick, dense, and could have supported the weight of a can of soup, no doubt. But I didn't try that.

We dug into our pieces and I was disappointed. It was dry, heavy, almost like a brownie, but not even a moist brownie. It reminded me of a bad batch of brownies I made for a boyfriend when I was 15. Ian liked it, liked the flavor. I did too, though. But I needed a glass of milk to dip it into. Then I said, "Gosh if the recipe had oil or butter in it, it'd be good." Got out the book again, turned to the page, and there, at the bottom, it lists cup of oil.

My mise en place is never in place, and somehow I missed that last, that vital ingredient. I decided to throw out that batch and try again.

If you'd like a copy of Sweet Melissa, let me know by leaving a comment and I'll select someone, if there's more than one, to send the book to. It's too good a book not to share it. I feel really selfish by keeping it all to myself.

how do i love brie?

brie with date & melba toast on a sunny day

How do I love brie? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the edge and center and rind

My tongue can reach, when feeling out of mind

For the ends of Aroma and ideal Taste.

Inspired by Elizabeth Barret Browning's Sonnet XLIII "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."

must save dogs' lives

photo by  Christopher Hirsheimer

I was reading Tenth Muse:  My Life in Food (2007) when I flew to Philadelphia back in January.  Judith Jones is just one of THE finest book editor who brought out books like Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking  as well as cookbooks by Elizabeth David, Madhur Jaffrey, Edna Lewis, and Lidia Bastianich. Besides bringing those women's work to a larger audience, Jones discovered The Diary of Anne Frank while working in Paris for Doubleday. She pushed to have it published in America and we have her to thank for promoting the manuscript.

Her memoir was not so heavy on her personal life. We learned a few details of her childhood and marriage, but the book's focus was on her career and the food circles she traveled in. I learned a fabulous trick that I hope never to use. And I've forgotten the exact details except for what notes I jotted down. At some point Jones's friends had a dog who swallowed a razor blade. She recommended feeding the dog asparagus because it's fibrous  composition would pillow the razor in the dogs stomach/intestine, thus allowing it to pass the razor without killing itself.

Another fun anecdote she shared was while she worked with Julie Child. Child was working with a whole pig and she recommended covering its ears and tail with aluminum foil. Or better yet, to tuck the tail into the hole beneath it. What a hoot!

At the end are recipes that I have not tried. They were classics. English and French, I believe. Must return to the back of that book and select a few to try.