Supper is almost ready. And it's 9:18 in the morning.
Last night because the leaves are beautiful, and since this is Alabama we're running the air conditioning in the daytime and the heat at night, we had turnip greens with smoked sausages, black-eyed peas and baked sweet potatoes. And when I got up this morning? I stole an inspiration from Southern Living. I haven't SEEN the inspiration, but it involves soup and my sister-in-law told me about it. (Which is the point at which I realized that this months SL? Is in a pile somewhere.)
The Soup
2 cups cooked black-eyed peas
2 cups turnip greens
12 oz smoked sausage
28 oz crushed tomatoes
3 bay leaves
1 pkg frozen seasoning blend (onions, peppers, celery)
1/2 pound smoked & shredded Boston Butt
I didn't even get cute...just dumped it all in the pot when I got up this morning, left it on low while I took the kids to school, and came home to heaven. I had a bowl for breakfast. Tonight? We'll have hot soup, crusty artisan bread and red wine.
I just love it when that happens.
I just threw in a can of whole kernel corn. Because.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Just a reminder
There haven't been any recipes lately because...WE'RE NOT COOKING. Between the winter-time crud and too many hours at work and holidays and elections...who has time?
But when I looked back over the week I realized...y'all need to make sure you have the baked ham and cheese squares, the ones with the crescent rolls, in your repertoire. For real. Too, too easy and too, too good. We throw them together for dinner once a week...leftovers go great in lunchboxes. (Did you know lunch at the private school is THREE DOLLARS AND SIXTY CENTS? By the time you buy drink and ice cream? It's only $1.25 at the public school but it's inedible.)
The other dependable, and this one we do three to four times a week, is the artisan bread. I just keep it going, in an inverted cake carrier, in the refrigerator. Haven't washed the carrier yet...you just keep mixing in the same container and the little yeasties get better and better. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Well worth the price of the book, but you DO need a baking stone.
Maybe after this holiday weekend, we'll get back on schedule.
But when I looked back over the week I realized...y'all need to make sure you have the baked ham and cheese squares, the ones with the crescent rolls, in your repertoire. For real. Too, too easy and too, too good. We throw them together for dinner once a week...leftovers go great in lunchboxes. (Did you know lunch at the private school is THREE DOLLARS AND SIXTY CENTS? By the time you buy drink and ice cream? It's only $1.25 at the public school but it's inedible.)
The other dependable, and this one we do three to four times a week, is the artisan bread. I just keep it going, in an inverted cake carrier, in the refrigerator. Haven't washed the carrier yet...you just keep mixing in the same container and the little yeasties get better and better. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Well worth the price of the book, but you DO need a baking stone.
Maybe after this holiday weekend, we'll get back on schedule.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Better Baked Chicken
OMG, y'all, I made the best baked chicken last night!Okay, so it wasn't exactly Coq au Vin and baked chicken is as common in the South as katydids and kudzu.
But really GOOD baked chicken is rare as hen's teeth.
Every mother-in-law has some God-awful recipe to pass onto unsuspecting brides.
Ignore them! Follow this recipe, fix it every-other Sunday (alternating with ham, of course) and your husband will love you forever.
That's a money-back guarantee.
Not-Your-Mother-in-Law's Baked Chicken
1 whole chicken, cut into either 8 or 16 pieces
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, preferably White Lily
2 tsps kosher salt
2 tsps dried thyme
1 Tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika + additional for color
Fresh cracked pepper to taste
Put butter in roasting pan. Place in oven and preheat to 425. Watch butter to make sure it doesn't burn.
Wash chicken and set aside.
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Dredge damp chicken in flour mixture, shake off excess, place on a cooling rack, skin side up. Do this to all the chicken.
Lightly sprinkle tops of chicken pieces on rack with paprika for additional color and flavor.
When butter is melted, place chicken skin-side DOWN in butter. Return to oven and bake for 30 minutes. turn chicken over and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the biggest piece reaches an internal temp of 160.
Remove pan from oven and transfer beautiful, golden chicken to clean wire rack.
Gravy
Pan juices
1/4 cup+ All-purpose flour
1-2 cups Chicken stock
Place pan across two medium-heat eyes on stovetop. Bring pan drippings to a boil, scraping up bits with a spatula. Add 1/4 cup flour to pan and whisk until smooth. Slowly whisk in stock until desired gravy consistency is achieved. (I like mine thick so I use a little more flour).
Bask in accolades of appreciative family and/or guests.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Coffee Blond Brownies
My friend, Mary, has lovely taste and is always surprising me with the nicest gifts (she and City Girl have this in common). A LONG time ago she gave me The Silver Palate Goodtimes Cookbook, and the original for this recipe came from that. These are always good for a change of pace when you're taking something somewhere.
Coffee Blond Brownies
1 pound brown sugar
1 stick butter
2 tablespoons espresso powder, or strong instant coffee powder
1 tablespoon hot water
3 eggs
2 tablespoons Madagascar vanilla
2 cups unbleached AP flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Heat the brown sugar and butter in a saucepan until the butter melts; stir the coffee into the hot water and stir into the butter. Let cool.
Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease an 11x8 baking dish. Beat the eggs and vanilla into the cooled butter mixture with a hand mixer. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and stir into the butter mixture with a spatula. Stir in the pecans and chocolate.
Spread the mixture in the pan and bake 25 to 30 minutes until lightly browned...don't overbake, they're brownies and they won't look real done when they are.
Coffee Blond Brownies
1 pound brown sugar
1 stick butter
2 tablespoons espresso powder, or strong instant coffee powder
1 tablespoon hot water
3 eggs
2 tablespoons Madagascar vanilla
2 cups unbleached AP flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Heat the brown sugar and butter in a saucepan until the butter melts; stir the coffee into the hot water and stir into the butter. Let cool.
Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease an 11x8 baking dish. Beat the eggs and vanilla into the cooled butter mixture with a hand mixer. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and stir into the butter mixture with a spatula. Stir in the pecans and chocolate.
Spread the mixture in the pan and bake 25 to 30 minutes until lightly browned...don't overbake, they're brownies and they won't look real done when they are.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Bread Salad/Panzanella
I knew The Residents weren't going to go for this and IN SPITE of the fact that it was very good and I ate a lot of it, they didn't. Go for it OR eat a lot of it. In all fairness, I think it's a cultural thing. Wet bread. We be callin' it dressing, I do believe.
But I'll make it again, if just for me. The tomatoes here are on their last legs...we're hoarding them now, and real tomatoes are a necessity here. As is fresh basil.
I had half a loaf of the artisanal bread we're so in love with. I had four medium sized tomatoes. I had a branch of fresh basil, and a medium red onion.
About 30 years ago my grandmother planted elephant garlic, and I have some of it growing in the backyard. When I dug it up this year, I took several cloves, roasted them sweet, and then pureed them with olive oil and put it in the refrigerator. So last night I took a couple tablespoons of the garlic puree, put it in the bottom of a baking pan with a couple of swirls of additional olive oil and heated it up in a 350 degree oven. Cubed the leftover artisanal bread, tossed it in the garlic puree, and then roasted the cubes until they were nice and brown. That was to keep them from getting soggy and it did.
I have a wonderful old McCoy bowl...a dark maroonish color with scallops up the side. Deep. I put in the toasted and cooled bread, the cut-up tomatoes, the finely diced onion and the basil...chiffonaded (?). Poured in about 1/4 cup Newman's Own Olive Oil & Vinegar dressing, a pinch or two of kosher salt and a couple of grinds of pepper. Tossed it and let it stand for about five minutes.
THE BREAD WASN'T SOGGY, it was lovely crisp with the juices soaked into it, but The Not Nice Kid wasn't having any of it and when she told The Big Boy that it was wet bread, he didn't even taste it. The Nice Kid ate some straight out of the bowl, but she wasn't crazy about the concept.
And that's the problem...it wasn't the food, it was the idea. My bad. I TRIED to explain that this was about a 200-year-old recipe so obviously SOMETHING about it must be right, but they weren't having it. Wet bread.
But that's okay. They tried it, liked it, chose not to eat it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and like I said, it will be back!!
But I'll make it again, if just for me. The tomatoes here are on their last legs...we're hoarding them now, and real tomatoes are a necessity here. As is fresh basil.
I had half a loaf of the artisanal bread we're so in love with. I had four medium sized tomatoes. I had a branch of fresh basil, and a medium red onion.
About 30 years ago my grandmother planted elephant garlic, and I have some of it growing in the backyard. When I dug it up this year, I took several cloves, roasted them sweet, and then pureed them with olive oil and put it in the refrigerator. So last night I took a couple tablespoons of the garlic puree, put it in the bottom of a baking pan with a couple of swirls of additional olive oil and heated it up in a 350 degree oven. Cubed the leftover artisanal bread, tossed it in the garlic puree, and then roasted the cubes until they were nice and brown. That was to keep them from getting soggy and it did.
I have a wonderful old McCoy bowl...a dark maroonish color with scallops up the side. Deep. I put in the toasted and cooled bread, the cut-up tomatoes, the finely diced onion and the basil...chiffonaded (?). Poured in about 1/4 cup Newman's Own Olive Oil & Vinegar dressing, a pinch or two of kosher salt and a couple of grinds of pepper. Tossed it and let it stand for about five minutes.
THE BREAD WASN'T SOGGY, it was lovely crisp with the juices soaked into it, but The Not Nice Kid wasn't having any of it and when she told The Big Boy that it was wet bread, he didn't even taste it. The Nice Kid ate some straight out of the bowl, but she wasn't crazy about the concept.
And that's the problem...it wasn't the food, it was the idea. My bad. I TRIED to explain that this was about a 200-year-old recipe so obviously SOMETHING about it must be right, but they weren't having it. Wet bread.
But that's okay. They tried it, liked it, chose not to eat it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and like I said, it will be back!!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The other baked sandwich square recipe
Okay, I was wrong. Bound to happen sooner or later. This recipe does NOT use frozen dough, it uses the "Sister Schubert" type rolls. Which you can get in 13x9 pans from Sysco. Had it for a family get-together last year and it is REALLY good. Really good.
B's Family's Baked Sandwich Rolls
(Except that they got the recipe out of the church cookbook. These instructions are verbatim from his aunt, so interpret.)
Ham and cheese Krystals (don't know where that name came from)
Spread:
1/2 pound butter
3T. poppy seed
3T. prepared mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 small onion chopped very fine
Mix spread ingredients together. Beat well. Slice rolls in half. Spread mix on top and bottom layers. Layer ham and cheeses. Bake 30 min at 400 degrees. Makes three pans. Freezes well. That temperature sounds a little hot to me for that extended amount of time.
3 packages party rolls (Paige used Sister Schubert in large aluminum pan from a wholesale grocer--I have not seen in regular grocery) I have used the little rolls in aluminum pans in the bread dept. They are not much larger than your thumb. Pepperidge Farm has some that are more round.
1 pound thinly sliced deli ham
6 oz. swiss cheese
B's Family's Baked Sandwich Rolls
(Except that they got the recipe out of the church cookbook. These instructions are verbatim from his aunt, so interpret.)
Ham and cheese Krystals (don't know where that name came from)
Spread:
1/2 pound butter
3T. poppy seed
3T. prepared mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 small onion chopped very fine
Mix spread ingredients together. Beat well. Slice rolls in half. Spread mix on top and bottom layers. Layer ham and cheeses. Bake 30 min at 400 degrees. Makes three pans. Freezes well. That temperature sounds a little hot to me for that extended amount of time.
3 packages party rolls (Paige used Sister Schubert in large aluminum pan from a wholesale grocer--I have not seen in regular grocery) I have used the little rolls in aluminum pans in the bread dept. They are not much larger than your thumb. Pepperidge Farm has some that are more round.
1 pound thinly sliced deli ham
6 oz. swiss cheese
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Baked Sandwich Squares
Last year (at one of the two times a YEAR my husband's family gets together) one of his cousins brought a dish with ham and cheese layered with yeast rolls, but the trick was that it used yeast dough from Sysco. I meant to get the recipe, forgot, and then had this recipe Sunday at homecoming at church and it is lovely. Not as good as the yeast roll thing (and I've emailed for the recipe and will share if I get it) but much more do-able...you don't have to track down a caterer friend or restaurant friend to get the dough. We ate a third of this before the nice people got out of church. That'll teach 'em.
Baked Ham & Cheese Squares
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9 baking dish.
2 8-oz cans crescent rolls
1/2 pound sliced salami
1/2 pound sliced swiss or provolone cheese
1/2 pound sliced boiled ham
7 eggs
1 cup parmesan cheese
Unroll one can crescent roll dough into the bottom of the dish, pinching together to form a solid crust. Beat SIX eggs and add the parmesan cheese.
Layer the salami, cheese, egg and cheese mixture, and ham...in that order. Top with the remaining crescent roll dough, pinching to form a solid crust.
Beat the remaining egg and brush over the top. Cook for 30 minutes covered with foil, then 30 more minutes uncovered. If you use a glass dish you may need to cut down the cooking time...or cook the full time at 325.
Obviously, you can substitute any luncheon meats, and I've been looking at this since Sunday thinking: Roast beef and blue cheese. Since 1/2 pound blue cheese would be awfully strong for the masses, that would probably work using Swiss AND blue cheese. I'll let you know.
(P.S....I made these this weekend for the soccer/birthday party/volunteering/football/last pool party/shrimp boil marathon that was going on and they were SPECTACULAR. Hit of the party. I did add a tablespoon of Dijon mustard to the egg mixture.)
Baked Ham & Cheese Squares
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9 baking dish.
2 8-oz cans crescent rolls
1/2 pound sliced salami
1/2 pound sliced swiss or provolone cheese
1/2 pound sliced boiled ham
7 eggs
1 cup parmesan cheese
Unroll one can crescent roll dough into the bottom of the dish, pinching together to form a solid crust. Beat SIX eggs and add the parmesan cheese.
Layer the salami, cheese, egg and cheese mixture, and ham...in that order. Top with the remaining crescent roll dough, pinching to form a solid crust.
Beat the remaining egg and brush over the top. Cook for 30 minutes covered with foil, then 30 more minutes uncovered. If you use a glass dish you may need to cut down the cooking time...or cook the full time at 325.
Obviously, you can substitute any luncheon meats, and I've been looking at this since Sunday thinking: Roast beef and blue cheese. Since 1/2 pound blue cheese would be awfully strong for the masses, that would probably work using Swiss AND blue cheese. I'll let you know.
(P.S....I made these this weekend for the soccer/birthday party/volunteering/football/last pool party/shrimp boil marathon that was going on and they were SPECTACULAR. Hit of the party. I did add a tablespoon of Dijon mustard to the egg mixture.)
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