You've Got To Taste This

Because I am passionate about food, art, and service, when all three of these interests come together it's a beautiful thing.  I was at the Fancy Foods show back in early summer and felt drawn to a particular booth because of the folk art on the "walls" of the booth.  I didn't even know what the product was; I just wanted to look at the art.    

As it turns out, the Immaculate Baking Co. makes cookies and other baked goods, uses  folk art images on their packaging, and supports the Folk Artist's Foundation through donations and community art programs. There are number of renowned folk artists from Alabama, and Immaculate Baking Co. includes the work of two of my favorites, Jimmy Lee Sudduth and Mose Toliver.The goal of the company is to offer great-tasting, all-natural treats and inspire the natural artist in all of us. Their slogan is "Cookies with a Cause".

So what about the cookies?  They have ready-to-bake, all organic cookie dough that you just take out of the bag and bake. Take your pick: chocolate chunk, triple chocolate chunk, vanilla sugar, peanut butter, oatmeal raisin and  cranberry oatmeal white chocolate.   They also have packages of ready-to-eat cookies, brownie dough and  ready-to-bake biscuits and scones.

I made a batch of the chocolate chunk cookies for our tailgating party this past weekend and there wasn't a single one left after the game.  Everyone thought they were homemade. And they were. Sort of.  These cookies were exactly how I like my cookies:  soft and chewy and very chocolatey.  The great thing about the cookie dough is that it's already divided up into portions in the package, so all you have to do is separate the sections, place them on the baking sheet, and bake.  The fact that the company supports folk artists just makes me feel so much better about eating cookies.  Like I need a reason.  You can find Immaculate Baking  Co. products in grocery stores all over the county, or you can order online.   Check them out and let me know how you like them.

I like spice. Peppers and curries - the hotter the better. So when I stumbled upon the Jalapeño Roaster at Williams Sonoma, I flipped. My hubby (another heat freak) and I have been using it ever since. The concept is simple: hollow out and fill fresh jalapeños with a stuffing, turn the grill on, and wait for the best jalapeño poppers you've ever tasted. I serve them as an appetizer, on game days (they're a fun tailgate addition), or as a side dish. A few tips: the roaster is built for large peppers. The smaller Jalapeños just fall through the hole, so be sure to get the biggest peppers you can find (I found the best ones at my farmer's market, but most Latin markets have them, too). If you're stuck with the smaller guys, you can make a little collar for them out of tin foil, which will prop them up and prevent them from falling through (thank you to my inventive husband). Finally, hollowing out jalapeños is a thankless job so be sure to wear rubber gloves and buy a jalapeño corer knife; it saves hours of time and is worth the investment if you cook with a lot of jalapeños.

Ingredients:

Directions:

In a fry pan over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Add the chorizo and cook, crumbling with the back of a wooden spoon, until the meat is cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the chorizo mixture to a paper towel-lined plate and let cool to room temperature.

Prepare a grill for indirect grilling over medium-high heat.

Cut 1/4 inch off the top of each jalapeño pepper. Using a thin knife, hollow out the centers of the peppers, removing the seeds and ribs; do not cut through the flesh.

Transfer the chorizo to a small bowl, add the cheese and stir to combine. Using your fingers, stuff the center of each pepper with 1 to 2 Tbs. of the chorizo mixture, pressing it down to fill the entire pepper. Place the filled peppers upright in a jalapeño pepper roaster. (Any leftover filling can be used for nachos or scrambled eggs.)

Place the pepper roaster on the grill over indirect heat, cover the grill and roast until the peppers are tender, 18 to 25 minutes. To test for doneness, insert a paring knife into the side of a pepper; if it pierces easily, the peppers are done. Interior peppers will be more crisp than those along the outside of the roaster.

Transfer the pepper roaster to a platter and serve the jalapeño poppers immediately. Makes 18 jalapeño poppers.

Note: You can easily make these vegetarian by stuffing them only with cheese - I like to use two cheeses to make it more interesting.

Makes 18 peppers; recipe adapted from Williams Sonoma

Last night, my husband called and we decided that soup had to be on the menu for dinner.  We'd eaten our hearts out in Charleston, a trend I'd continued on my beach trip with the girls this weekend, so we were hankering for something a little lighter on the tummy. (There's nothing like rubbing sunscreen on your stomach and swearing you can still feel each fried shrimp from the night before!)

We have one rule about soup, well two really.  One: Everything liquid-ish is soup.  Taco soup, chili, chowder... regardless of thickness or base, they all qualify. We're still looking for a way to get cheese dip in there. Two: It has to be good.

So we decided on French Onion Soup. "You can make that?" he asked.  "Of course," I said, lying through my ladle.  Then I went digging for a recipe.  I decided to start at the top of the trend, with Julia Child's French Onion Soup recipe.  I expected lots of fatty ingredients, but the only real fat-bringers were a little bit of oil, 3 tablespoons of butter, and the cheese we put on top. Other than that, there were a whole lot of onions and some beef broth, plus a bit of wine.

As the onions caramelized and the soup began to simmer, the house took on a fragrant, intoxicating smell (which I could still taste falling asleep on my pillow last night!).  French Onion Soup is a hit!  We made small sandwiches to go alongside the dish, but you hardly needed them, the soup was so filling.

We're moving into soup season, so break out of your recipe box and make something delicious and new.  Soup, anyone?

HELP!!

While visiting with family last week I had the most delicious corn-and-bean salad I've ever tasted. After just one bite, I was hooked. I couldn't help but cut my way back into line again for seconds (and thirds, maybe?). The following day, I was even caught sneaking spoonfuls of the leftovers...more than once. Oops. 

Now, as head-over-heels as I was about this tasty side dish, I can't believe I left without getting the recipe! What was I thinking??

I've been searching online all week for it, but I just can't seem to find an exact replica of the recipe.

Here's what I'm pretty sure I was tasting:

-canned black beans
-canned corn kernels
-canned kidney beans
-diced scallions
-(maybe) some diced onions
-and some delicious dressing/marinade that slightly resembled Italian dressing

And here are the imposters I've come across so far:

-Cooking Light's All-Purpose Southwestern Corn and Black Bean Salad. Mmm this recipe includes lime juice and honey in the dressing, and it offers great suggestions for turning it into a main-dish salad or a dip!

-RealSimple's Three Bean Salad. This one actually looks pretty similar, and I like the addition of chickpeas!

-All You's Corn and Black Bean Salad. This recipe's really close too! I could just switch the roasted red peppers out for kidney beans. Maybe their cider vinegar is the secret ingredient I'm missing!

-Southern Living's Black Bean Salad. This picture looks almost identical! Just hold the jalapeños and tomatoes, and add in the kidney beans. I like the fresh corn!

Anyone have any leads for me, or maybe a favorite recipe of your own that I might love just as much?

This afternoon, I met my Mom and Grandma for lunch at The Spiced Pear Tearoom in Birmingham, Alabama.  The Spiced Pear is a lovely ladies' lunch spot located in a cute cottage style home, complete with pink shutters. The quiche was delicious, the tea flavorful (Carmen Miranda=pina colada, more or less), and the atmosphere, a just-right mix of charming and fun.

Indulging our hankering for sweets with a spot of calorie-free and delicious tea, our trio of ladies enjoyed a perfectly pleasant afternoon lunch break, which reminded me of the last time I'd had afternoon tea.

My Mom was big on taking our family to see parts of the world that were foreign to my native Florence, Alabama roots. On one occasion, we spent a week in Vancouver, venturing out to Victoria Island one day for, you guessed it, high tea.

The foursome on that trip included my parents, my brother, and myself.  As you might guess, my Dad and brother had minimal interest in high tea, and really had no idea what it was.  After enjoying tea and delicate sandwiches loaded with cucumber and spread, my brother asked Mom, "When are we getting lunch?"  Needless to say, at $25 a person, this was lunch.

That tearoom may have been too much for the rookies that my brother and I were back then, but it seems that in recent years, tearooms have been popping up in historic downtown areas, offering a location for Red Hat society meetings, showers, birthday parties, and even etiquette lessons.

Tell me, do you take your tea more often these days?  I only wish I'd gotten a pot with a little caffeine in it.  It's time for my afternoon nap!

Anyone who likes wine knows the name Mondavi. But fewer people know the other Mondavi – Peter Mondavi, brother of Robert Mondavi, the famed Napa Valley vintner who put California wines on the map. Their father Cesare Mondavi bought the first winery in Napa, Charles Krug, in 1943. Years later when Robert Mondavi left to start his own winery a few miles down the road, Peter remained at Charles Krug. Today Peter is still running the winery along with sons Peter Jr. and Marc. I visited with Peter Mondavi, Jr. at the winery on a beautiful September day and tasted some of their delicious wines (the 2008 Sauvignon Blanc and the 2006 Vintage Selection Cabernet Sauvignon were standouts). They’ve been busy replanting vineyards and shifting the focus to Bordeaux-style blends. The lineup of Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel is made from grapes grown right on their 850 acres. The expansive tasting room is welcoming, surrounded by vineyards and the historical buildings, with knowledgeable staff who love nothing more than to talk wine. Don’t miss it on your next trip to Napa. Besides the tasting room you can order the wines online or find them in fine wine shops and select restaurants.

Peter Mondavi, Jr.’s wife Katie is an accomplished cook and parted with a true wine country recipe, Salmon and Pasta (serve with the Charles Krug-Peter Mondavi Family Napa Valley Chardonnay, of course).

Katie Mondavi’s Salmon and Pasta

Makes 4 servings

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 - 2 lemons, sliced thinly
1  bunch of green garlic or green onions, washed, trimmed and sliced into 1” lengths (or 1 small onion, sliced thinly)
1-1/2 to 2 pounds salmon filet, cut into four equal portions
1 cup Charles Krug-Peter Mondavi Family Napa Valley Chardonnay

8-10 ounces pasta of your choice

1/3 cup green or black olives, or a mixture, pitted and quartered
salt and pepper

Olive oil for drizzling

Preheat oven to 375ºF and bring a pot of salted water to boil for the pasta.

Drizzle half the olive oil into a baking dish just large enough to hold the salmon, but not too big. Set aside four lemon slices for garnish. Layer half the remaining lemon slices and half the green garlic (or onion) in the bottom of the dish.  Add the salmon atop the lemon and green garlic, then layer the remaining lemon and green garlic over the salmon. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with the remaining olive oil.  

Add chardonnay so that it comes about halfway up the salmon. Cover with foil and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the salmon is just cooked through.

About 15 minutes before the salmon is done, cook pasta al dente in boiling water. Drain and keep warm. 

Remove salmon pieces to a warm plate and quickly strain poaching liquid, reserving the green garlic or onion. Boil the liquid in a large skillet over high heat until it is reduced by half. Gently toss the liquid with the cooked pasta, olives, reserved green garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Divide onto four plates, top with salmon and serve garnished with lemon slices and a drizzle of olive oil.

While I love a good homemade tomato sauce as much as anybody, the honest truth is that I typically rely on jarred sauces for my weeknight meals. (I feel better now that I have confessed this to you.) When I was at the Fancy Foods Show this past June I discovered a new line of fantastic sauces called Vino de Milo.  The sauces are wine-based sauces made with all natural ingredients and no added sugars.  When I do make a homemade tomato sauce, I usually add a splash of wine, so the flavors in these  sauces were particularly appealing.  There was no acidic "winey" flavor that you get if you add too much wine; it seemed like just the right amount to add richness and balance the other seasonings.

Of course, I tasted all the varieties and liked them all, but I think my favorites were the the Four-Herb Malbec Marinara and the Tuscan Merlot. There's also a Mediterranean Pinot Grigio, Portobello Shiraz, and a Roasted Garlic Chianti. The wine really makes these distinctive sauces stand out from some of the other jarred sauces on the market.  So far I've used them in spaghetti sauce, pizza, and a goat cheese gratin, but there are plenty of other options.    I often advise people to keep some jarred pasta sauce in the pantry because it's a versatile ingredient for quick and easy dinners. Believe me, I'll be stocking up on some Vino de Milo!

The other thing I love about these sauces is the artwork on the label.  It's bright and  colorful and reminds me of Julia Child in the kithchen with wine glass in one hand and a bottle in the other hand that she's pouring into the pan.  Just looking at these jars makes me feel happy and inspired to cook. Check out "7 Ways with Jarred Pasta Sauce" for a little inspiration.  Let me know about some of your favorite "go-to" ingredients for weeknight suppers.

Very rarely do I order martinis. I'm a cheap date, so plant a cold beer on the table in front of me, and I'm as happy as a clam. However, some friends and I went out for Happy Hour drinks the other day after work, and I felt like being crazy and ordering the house martini.

As we sipped our fruity concoctions, we went around the table sharing "favorite drink" stories, so I just had to tell them about "The Best Martini I Have Ever Had in My Entire Life."

The best martini I have ever had in my entire life was...drumroll please...a Key Lime Pie Martini.

A year or two back, I was out for dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. (I was with my family -- who was footing the bill. You don't honestly think my tiny college income would have allowed fancy steakhouse dinners, do you?)

Anyway, someone recommended the Key Lime Pie Martini, and it was out of this world. Since then, I've tried to figure out what made this drink so delish. There are a lot of variations of the key lime martini floating around the internet, but vodka, lime juice, simple syrup and heavy cream seem to be the agreed-upon main ingredients.

And the real key to this martini's star quality is to coat the rim of the glass with graham cracker crumbs. Wow. Seriously, wow. 

Sadly, I read somewhere that Ruth's Chris no longer lists their Key Lime Martini on the menu (but that you can still get it if you ask your server), but why pay for an expensive martini out when you can make your own at home?

This Key Lime Pie Martini recipe from Coastal Living looks spot-on. Give it a sip, and let me know what you think!

Go here for even more dessert recipes!

Disclaimer: I tried to eat at every restaurant in the city and failed miserably, dining only at a handful of top-rate eateries.  I'm sure there are other fabulous finds out there.  In fact, I'm volunteering to go back and find them.  Today.

This weekend, my husband and I escaped to Charleston to celebrate my birthday, stopping at several delicious eateries along the way. Visiting this noted Southern city soon? Go hungry, my friends, and you'll thank us, I promise!

Our first stop was The Governor's House Inn, our home-away-from-home for the weekend.  We arrived just in time for "afternoon tea," which in Charleston translates to "wine, cheese, chocolate, and other assorted goodies," with apologies to Britain, I'm sure! The Inn, a fabulous bed & breakfast, also offered a delicious morning meal that got us up and going early each day. One morning it was a cornbread-based sausage casserole, the next it was a spinach quiche.  Both arrived with a heaping bowl of fresh fruit, sweet zucchini bread, and a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice, all served under the softly whirling fans on the back porch.  Heaven!

For dinner, we followed sound advice and tried Magnolias, a delicious find just off the waterfront.  The ambiance is classic Southern elegance: casual white tablecloth, if you will. To start, we sampled fried green tomatoes served atop grits with thin slices of ham and a tomato chutney on top and a delicious seared scallop platter.  The food was excellent, but the sauces were to die for.  If I hadn't worried about wasting the scallop sauce, I would've bathed in it.  For our mains, we enjoyed a pimiento cheese-stuffed steak (which inspired the menu for our rehearsal dinner. Yum!) and Parmesan-crusted flounder with a crab-and-cucumber salad on top.  Just to prove we could, we ordered dessert: a delicious cream cheese brownie.  The presentation, sauces, and flavor at Magnolias was top-notch, and earned it a "definitely going back" status in our book!

On Saturday, we sampled another top-notch find: High Cotton, where we (thankfully!) ate less but enjoyed ourselves just as much.  The atmosphere felt like an old country club dining room, one where you've been a member for years.  I loved my crab cake and creamed peas (which offered more bacon than greens, yum!) and my husband loved his prime rib and chilled watermelon soup

For dessert, we made our way over to Baked, a little pastry-and-coffee shop across the street from High Cotton for their Grasshopper Cake.  Oh. My. God.  These generously-sized treats, while perfectly sized for sharing, are too good to share! My husband loved it so much that he went back and got the cookbook, which I've been reading ever since! 

Sunday we stopped at Hominy Grill on the way out of town.  The wait was short, the food was amazing, and the atmosphere top-notch.  We dined among locals and students from the local colleges and loved every minute of it.  I couldn't sell Brian on the GuinNess Float, but we did enjoy a lamb gyro and a "big nasty biscuit," topped with fried chicken and homemade sausage gravy.  Watch out, Chick-fil-A! The big nasty is coming to get you!

Sure, we saw more in Charleston than the interior of restaurants (need I mention the rooftop bars at the Vendue Inn and the Market Pavilion Hotel?), but these culinary feasts will always come to mind when I think of this beautiful city.  Next time, we're definitely going to try out a few more stops, and maybe one more Grasshopper at Baked...

            While some people spend the afternoon watching a riveting game of football or curl up on the couch for a daily dose of Oprah, my dirty little secret is cooking shows. Baking, cooking, entertaining, public television or cable – I watch them all, but my absolute favorite star is British chef Jamie Oliver. He manages to be charming, informative, funny, and educational all while chopping, dicing, or grabbing fresh veggies from his garden. His show “Jamie at Home” focuses on one ingredient each week, and contains 2 or 3 recipes for that ingredient. The recipes are always innovative, interesting, and delicious and I was spellbound when Jamie made butternut squash muffins on a recent butternut squash episode. Quick, easy, and healthy – perfect for a snack, or to satisfy a kid’s sweet tooth (they’ll just think it’s a cupcake). And it’s a great way to use butternut squash, which is in season now through winter. Make the muffins with or without the frosting (“frosty top” in Jamie speak); they’re fabulous either way. (And check out Jamie’s show; it runs on the Food Network.)

 

Butternut Squash Muffins with a Frosty Top

 

14 ounces butternut squash, skin on, deseeded and roughly chopped

2 1/4 cups light soft brown sugar

4 large free-range or organic eggs

Sea salt

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted

2 heaping teaspoons baking powder

Handful of walnuts, chopped

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

For the Frosted Cream Topping:

1 clementine, zested

1 lemon, zested

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 cup sour cream

2 heaping tablespoons icing (confectioner’s) sugar, sifted

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out

Lavender flowers or rose petals, optional

 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line your muffin tins with paper cups.

Whiz the squash in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the sugar, and crack in the eggs. Add a pinch of salt, the flour, baking powder, walnuts, cinnamon and olive oil and whiz together until well beaten. You may need to pause the machine at some point to scrape the mix down the sides with a rubber spatula. Try not to overdo it with the mixing - you want to just combine everything and no more.

Fill the paper cups with the muffin mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Check to see whether they are cooked properly by sticking a wooden skewer or a knife right into one of the muffins - if it comes out clean, they're done. If it's a bit sticky, pop them back into the oven for a little longer. Remove from the oven and leave the muffins to cool on a wire rack.

As soon as the muffins are in the oven, make your runny frosted topping. Place most of the clementine zest, all the lemon zest and the lemon juice in a bowl. Add the sour cream, icing sugar and vanilla seeds and mix well. Taste and have a think about it - adjust the amount of lemon juice or icing sugar to balance the sweet and sour. Put into the fridge until your muffins have cooled down, then spoon the topping onto the muffins.

Serve on a lovely plate (on a cake stand if you're feeling elegant, or on a rustic slab if you're more of a hunter-gatherer type!), with the rest of the clementine zest sprinkled over. For an interesting flavor and look, a few dried lavender flowers or rose petals are fantastic.

Makes 12 muffins

Note: Unfrosted muffins freeze well; just wrap them in plastic wrap and stick them in a freezer bag for up to one month.