What's Cooking in Carolina?

Entrée Vous

2008-02-07T18:30:00.000-05:00

Yes, we opened November 16th to the public after many delays which I am sure you do not want to hear about. We were the 42nd Entree Vous to open. I don't have pictures of the kitchen (had a break-in during the night several weeks ago and they took my petty cash and my digital camera). Business is slower than we'd like but growing. The challenging part is getting people in for the first time. Unless you come in, you don't get it. It IS a meal assembly kitchen AND fresh Take&Bake (a gourmet dinners to go kind of thing). Once guests realize that they can get really good food for incredibly cheap prices to eat at home, they are hooked because the food wonderful. This is a picture of one of the items on the menu, the Mesa Verde Flank Steak. It is delicious,beautiful and at less than $5 per serving you can't beat it.

We love the guests, we just need more of them.

Sorry I haven't written (or read). I am working a lot of hours to get this off the ground and have no spare time. Only a small window today because I have the flu and doctor's orders to stay away from food and the public.

Hopefully, when business picks up enough for me to hire more people, I'll be back in the blogs. In the meantime, if you know anyone in the Chapel Hill, Durham, Pittsboro area of beautiful NC, send them over to try us. If they say they got sent by a fellow blogger, I'll give them 10% off. I am having fun; this is really a happy job and I know they will love it!

I hope this finds you healthy and happy. I would love to get a quick note about how ya'll are doing until I have time to read more.

Take care until next time!

Miss you all!

Pookah

ps What's in the kitchen, you ask? Chicken Noodle Soup. Didn't you read the part where I have the flu??

Fishy Food

2007-10-21T15:49:00.000-04:00

I am busy. My Entree Vous kitchen is still not open. Other than the buying stuff, paying lots of money and managing all I have to do for that, I have been into networking to build awareness. Entree Vous is part of the meal assembly concept, the largest growing trend in the restaurant industry, but lots of people don't get it, so the concept inself needs to be sold. I know this isn't a blog about that, but we'll get to that. I know you wanted to know what I have been up to. I can only tell you that this is entirely different kind of sales and marketing than my last 25 years. It is wonderful. Additionally, as opposed to being 'instructed' what charities you give to, you can work with the local community on things that you know and feel are important. My first real event I scheduled months ago assuming I would be open was last Sunday. Called A Tasteful Affair, it is the 16th year. It is a silent auction, a raffle, and a tasting with more than 25 wineries, breweries, caterers and restaurants offering food samples. People (500) pay to get in and 100% of the intake benefits the Ronald McDonald House in Chapel Hill. This year they took in an impressive $78,000. It was wonderful for us and our first giving back event. We loved it! Tomorrow night I present to a middle school PTA on fund raising for the school. There will be plenty more to come!

Here is a sneak peak at the kitchen about a week ago, after the first coat of paint and before any of the equipment arrived.

We still don't have a opening date but we'll let you know. Hopefully within the first few weeks of November.

Cooking. Yes, we are cooking. Maybe more short order cooking.....I had a lot of mushrooms left over from one of meals I served at A Tasteful Affair so I made a pot of mushroom soup from my a recipe from my catering partner, Diane Kiser. A marvelous cook and the best darn design consultant in the business, if you need her services (and you probably do) email me and I will tell you how to contact her. She is the best of the best.

Tonight, once again lacking time, I went to the local (no-so-good) grocery and believe it or not came out with fresh flounder (fried), asparagus and butternut squash. It was great.

With that, I will tell you that I think southern cooking is mostly misrepresented. And so is how to fry fish. I think it is the best way. How do I know? My father had a fishing boat. He also had the #1 slip at Lynnhaven at Virgina Beach from sometime before I was born until the day he retired. I was on a fishing boat on the Chesapeake Bay before I could walk. I doubt if you have fried as much fish as I have. We served it with roasted asparagus and roasted butternut squash! Yummy!

Fried Flounder

flounder fillets
salt and pepper to taste
buttermilk
cornmeal
oil (preferably peanut but others will do)

Salt and pepper flounder fillets. Dip in buttermilk then in corn meal coating both sides. heat oil until hot. Add fillets and lightly brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels. serve.

By the way, if you add flour to cornmeal in any cornbread recipe, you are not eating it the way it should be served, the southern way.

For more recipes, try the website. And wish me luck with the upcoming opening!

Cooking in More Ways Than One

2007-09-29T11:00:00.000-04:00

It is not that I haven't been eating (that would be the day!). I have been
very busy and I am sorry it has been so long since I posted.

We are still under severe drought conditions. Yesterday was the first day in a long time that the temperatures were not in the 90's. It is hard to describe what it is like. Landscape plants and some trees in our woods are dead or dying. The garden is awful and we haven't even planted a fall garden because we do not know how to get it enough water. Needless to say, the summer garden wasn't terrific. A few things faired well, but not much. That doesn't mean we are not eating well.

So what have I been doing and what have we been eating? Over the last two weeks I have helped at the opening of two Entrée Vous' in NC, the first in Morrisville and the second in High Point. The North Carolina Entrée Vous' are a great group of people; even though we come from different places and different backgrounds, we all ended up doing the same thing at the same time and we share the journey with what has become a wonderful comradery and a helpful team spirit.

I have also still been catering and gotten into the networking 'thing'. When you live as rural as we do, it is a conscientious effort to get out to market this kitchen. Entrée Vous is a new concept so getting people in to try it is the first step and I have joined several networking groups to that end. It is very different that what I have done before and that makes life interesting. I am meeting new people and it's been great! As far as construction, it is now, finally, well underway. We hope to be open in late October.

As far as food, last night we had Spaghetti and Meatballs (of course the pasta was made from scratch, as were the meatballs and the marinara was from garden grown tomatoes.). We have been eating for several nights from a London Broil, one night marinades and grilled with green beans and potatoes, one morning for breakfast as a hash with over light eggs, then in an Indian dish, Rogan josh, a rich, red beef stew, quite aromatic and spicy served with Lobhia aur khumbi or black-eyed peas with mushroom, in our case pick-eyed purple hulls, one of the few things that did well this year from the garden. Both of the later recipes are from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking. Below is the recipe for the beef. The only modification I made was in the cooking, I pressure cooked it to reduce the cooking time from one hour to 25 minutes. It was delicious served over rice.

Rogan Josh from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking

2 1" pieces ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
8 cloves garlic, peeled
1 1/2-2 cups water
10 T vegetable oil
2 lbs stewing beef cut into 1" cubes (can be made with lamb)
10 whole cardamon pods
2 bay leaves
1 1" stick cinnamon
2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
1 t ground coriander seeds
2 t ground cumin seeds
2 t bright red paprika mixed with 1/4-1 t cayenne pepper
1 1/4 t salt
6 T plain yogurt
1/4 t garam masala
freshly ground black pepper

Put ginger, garlic and 4 T water in blender and blend until you have a smooth paste. Heat oil in wide pot over medium high heat. Brown meat in several batches and set aside. Add cardamom, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns, and cinnamon to hot oil. Stir once and wait until the cloves swell and the bay leaves take on color, just a few seconds. Add onions, stirring for about 5 minutes until they turn a medium brown color. Add ginger/garlic paste and stir for 30seconds. Add coriander, cumin, paprika-cayenne and salt. Stir 30 seconds. Add meat cubes and their juice. Stir 30 seconds. Add 1 T yogurt. Stir 30 seconds or until well blended. Add remaining yogurt, 1 T at a time, in the same way. Stir for another 3-4 minutes.Now add 1 1/3 cups water if you are cooking lamb and 2 cups if you are cooking beef. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 1 hr for lamb or 2 for beef or pressure cook 25 minutes for beef). Sprinkle with garam marsala and black pepper, mixing them in.

What else have we been eating: zucchini and pasta. It is really good.

And eggplant Parmesan my way! It's the best and you can make it too. The recipe is on the website!

Cheers.

Pookah

Canning, Freezing and Peter Piper

2007-08-23T09:04:00.000-04:00

Canning and Freezing

I finally got into the swing of summer, which for me is not vacationing but canning and freezing. My somewhat hectic schedule had me behind, but so was the garden and with the drought, meant not as much as it could have been. It was (yes, was) our best year yet for cantaloupe. There's a few left in the frig, but no more coming. Also a great year for pink eyed purple hulls. More than 2 gallons dried. Over the last week, I have canned tomatoes, salsa and pickled banana peppers with onions. Right now in the oven is concentrated gumbo solution (okra, bell peppers, onions, garlic, peppers) cooking down for freezing for gumbo during the chilly winter months. I thought you might enjoy the recipe for pickled banana peppers. I thought I posted it before, but checked and I only posted a promise to post. They are great to eat with greens or on sandwiches.

Pickled Banana Peppers

20-30 large banana peppers, stemmed, seeded and sliced
2-3 large sweet onions, peeled, halved, thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
1/4 cup salt
ice & water
2 cups sugar
1 t turmeric
1 t celery seed
1 T mustard seed
3/4 c white vinegar
3/4 c apple cider vinegar

In a large bowl, combine banana pepper slices, onions, garlic, salt; cover with ice and let stand several hours. Drain off the liquid and remove garlic. Combine sugar, spices and vinegar in a large pot and just bring to a boil. Add the banana peppers and onion slices and simmer about 5 minutes. Pack into clean, sterilized jars, first peppers and onions and covering with liquid, leaving 1/4-1/2" headroom. Put on lids, process in hot water bath (212) for 10 minutes.

Notes:
1.) I like to use banana peppers after they start to color, to make it prettier.
2.) You can put the garlic into the jars.
3.) I use this recipe for pickled onions, pickled jalapeños and bread and butter pickles.
4.) There is always to much liquid. Save it for the next batch.
5.) Most of the time, I do the amount of onions that looks right in the mixture.

I hope you'll try it! For more recipes, check out the website!

Cheers!

Gardens and Drought and Okra

2007-08-18T21:32:00.000-04:00

The garden is really coming in now so lots of meals are veggies. The big issue is the drought. We had 1/3" rain yesterday and it was the first rain in almost 50 days. It is incredibly dry; so much so that we are starting to turn off the watering to parts of the garden and vineyard seedlings out of concern for the well!

Earlier in the week, we were running errands and were in the vicinity of Whole Foods and dropped in. There were a numbers of tastings going on. One was compound butters and they were tasting in on rainbow trout. Boy, was it good (the trout) so I bought some. It was farm raised in western, NC and was just delicious. So I came home and cooked it up. With fresh veggies, of course. Corn on the Cob, Oven Fried Okra.
Oven Fried Okra reminds us of pop corn. And it is so much better for you than frying it. It's easy too. Just beat up a couple of eggs, cut your okra into 1/2" rounds into the eggs. Coat well. Put into yellow cornmeal and coat well. Move onto a parchment lined sheetpan (for easy clean-up) and pop into a 400 degree oven. Shake a few times during cooking. Take out when lightly browned and add salt and pepper! Yum!

We've had pasta with pesto, eggplant parmesan, chicken cacciatore, pork chops with okra, onions, tomatoes and corn, and roasted tomato basil soup!

We grow these peas under our corn to keep the weeds in check, the way the Indians used to. They are good for the soil. Last year I didn't even harvest them because I had plenty in the freezer. I ran out so we have been harvesting them like crazy. We wait until they are almost totally dried on the vine (easy in a year when there is no rain). They look like black eye peas but is what is grown locally, called pink eye purple hulls for obvious reasons. We love them!

I am trying to get this complete for Weekend Herb Blogging hosted this week by famous bread-baker Zorra from Kochtopf. I've been too busy to submit or read it!! Be sure you stop by and check it out. I wish we could have a rainy day so I could find the time to catch up!! An okra recipe that is delicious and healthy should add to the array of dishes that get submitted. I can eat okra almost any way. Doesn't that okra, corn and tomato recipe look great!

Sorry for the slow posting rate. As you can see we've been eating well and cooking and canning in addition to working on getting Entrée Vous under construction, ordering, planning, marketing, etc. I'll give an update soon! My newsletter is about to come out! Did I mention we've had more back to back days more than 100 degrees since I can remember?

Be back soon! Check out the website for other great recipes!

Entrée Vous Update and Fresh Summer Salads

2007-08-05T17:11:00.000-04:00

I've been very busy, not only gardening, working on what I need for Entrée Vous, but I had a luncheon early in the week for 7 and a luncheon for 85 yesterday. What makes it nice this time of the year is the availability of the garden.

The smaller luncheon we had roasted vegetables on fresh ciabatta bread from a local bakery, roasted tomato basil soup, Caprese Salad and cantaloupe, grapes and cucumbers from the garden.

The earlier luncheon was the owners of all of the Entrée Vous in progress in central NC (Morrisville, North Raleigh (2), Durham near Chapel Hill (ME!!), High Point and Greensboro. If you live in the area, watch for their opening in the next month or so.) The bigger luncheon yesterday was our local Orchid Societies Growers Day. I told people about all of the Entrée Vous' moving into the Triangle, so it was some great early advertising. As far as the status of my kitchen, we start construction this week!

The menu yesterday was below:

Curried Chicken Salad with Pecans and Grapes

Tuna Salad with Black Olive Tapenade

Yukon Gold Potato Salad with Prosciutto & Truffle Oil

Pasta Salad with Olives, Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Herbs
Broccoli Salad with Dried Berries and Peanuts
Pink Eyed Purple Hull (like black eyed peas) Salad with Peppers and Onions

Caprese Salad
cantaloupe
Grapes
Bread
Brownies
Tea (sweet and unsweetened)

What came from the garden: the grapes in the chicken salad, the cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs in the Pasta Salad, the pink eyed purple hulls, peppers and herbs in that salad, the tomatoes, cantaloupe and grapes. And anyone coming to my Entrée Vous will have the opportunity to get in season fruits and vegetables from my garden!

The Entrée Vous in Durham is 7 weeks from opening!

Everyone loved lunch! How could they not with so many fresh vegetables! The first thing to go was the Chicken Salad but the thing everyone really notices are the grapes: Grapes with Flavor, imagine that!

And a chance to pitch Entrée Vous to 85 people! It was worth the work!

I'll try to post a few of the recipes in a day or so, in the meantime, check the website. Let me know what you think or want to see (or taste!)

Cheers! Hope to see you in the kitchen soon!

Ratatouille! The food not the movie!

2007-07-26T10:21:00.000-04:00

We are really busy and very behind in the gardening and putting up of veggies and I am writing instead of canning so I must make this brief.

Last several days ago I stopped by the market to grab a few meats for dinner, as we have enough veggies. I bought several big boneless pork chops and they had chicken breasts, but one get one free so I did. One night we had the first few breast pounded out and stuffed with fontina and sage, rolled and grilled. The next we had breaded grilled pork chops (the recipe is on the website) and it is wonderfully juicy! Since I had the breading I went ahead and breaded up the squash and grilled it too.

Yesterday, I skinned and boned the rest of the chicken, cut it into strips and marinated in jerk sauce (also on the website). When we came from the garden at half past eight with a picking of tomatoes, eggplant, squash, basil, peppers, and cucumbers, I didn't have an inkling of what I was going to have for dinner, then it hit me! Ratatouille!

Even though we haven't had time to go see the movie, there is was right there in front of me, so in about 15 minutes (who needs 30 minutes), we had jerk chicken, ratatouille, grilled corn on the cob and cucumbers in vinegar! Summer time is great!

Hot Pasta!

2007-07-18T22:15:00.000-04:00

Do you ever try a recipe and just can't get enough of it. This is the way it is for Sopa Seca de Fideo, that I got from taking a cooking class with Diana Kennedy. My husband says it's better than spaghetti and that obtaining this single recipe was worth the price of the class alone. It's easy and we are hooked! If you're into low carb, you'll have to try a carb blocker because you must try this recipe.

Before Cheese is added:

After Cheese is melted over top:

From Diana Kennedy

Angel hair pasta nests (8 ounces)
Peanut or safflower oil
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
3 T onions, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup grated cheese (cheddar or muenster)
6 chipotle peppers in adobo, cut into 2 or 3 pieces

Fry angel hair pasta on both sides until brown. Add tomatoes, onions and garlic. With the end of a metal spatula, break up the pasta into pieces while the pasta is absorbing the tomatoes. Add chicken stock and cook until it is mainly absorbed. Tranfer to a greased baking dish. Spread out evenly and tuck in pieces of the chipotle pepper, embedding them evenly across the dish. Top with shredded cheese and bake in the preheated oven until the cheese is melted. Serve immediately with creme fraiche or sour cream.

For more recipes, go to the website.

We're a bit overwhelmed by the garden right now. Hope to be posting more soon!

Chinese Chicken Salad

2007-07-08T16:33:00.000-04:00

Oriental or Chinese Chicken Salad is a dish I really like. I have tried many recipes at home and many prepared salads in restaurants. I am one of those cooks that really likes to experiment and I finally have a recipe that I like a lot. I was testing recipes for a summer luncheon I was preparing for 75 people and I wanted it to be all salads. I went to the oriental market and asked what type of chow mein noodles they had. I had seen the fake ones in sealed containers in the regular super market and they just didn't seem appealing. He want to the freezer and got out a bag of noodles that looked to be like angel hair pasta crumbles, maybe a little bigger. I was surprised and ask him how to prepare them and he said you fry them. So I did. And combined with the crunchy cabbage and lettuce salad it's a combination I am pleased with. I hope you'll try it. I think you can substitute angel hair pasta for the chow mein noodles and it would work just fine, if you crumble them up so they are in small pieces. Sometimes you can buy them like that. I have found that it really adds to the crunch of any Chinese Chicken Salad but I particularly like it with this version. He did another version on his cooking show with a lot more fat in it. I think this one's just fine without it or better with my addition.

Mainly from Bobby Flay's Grilling for Life but I can never leave well enough alone.

Red Chili Peanut Dressing

3 T soy sauce
3 T rice vinegar
1/4 cup chicken stock
3 T smooth peanut butter
1 T light brown sugar
1 T fresh ginger, grated
1 T chipotle puree
2 t sesame oil
1/4 t black pepper, ground

Chicken Salad

1/2 head cabbage
1/2 head romaine lettuce
2 medium carrots, shredded
1 cup snow peas, trimmed
1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 8 ounces each
1 T canola oil
1 t kosher salt
1/2 tea freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c roasted peanuts, chopped
grilled lime wedges, for garnish.

2 cups chow mein noodles or shredded angel hair pasta.
3 T oil

Whisk together all of the dressing ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

Finely shred the cabbage and lettuce with a knife. Put in large bowl. Shred the carrots in the large wholes of a bix grater. Add to cabbage mixture. Add the snow peas, cilantro and green onions. Set aside.

Heat your grill to high. Season both sides of chicken breasts with oil, salt and pepper. Grill 4 minutes on each side until slightly charred and just cooked through. Remove from grill to a cutting board. Let rest 5 minutes before shredding.

Fry noodles in oil until crisp and starting to turn color but do not brown. Drain well.

Mix dressing in with cabbage mixture. Move to a large platter. Top with shredded chicken, chopped peanuts and noodles. Garnish with lime wedges.

For more recipes, checkout my website, or, if you don't feel like cooking, hire us to cook for you or visit the closest Entree Vous to you!

Cheers,
pookah

Entrée Vous Update

2007-07-03T18:15:00.000-04:00

So you want to know just how good is the food at Entrée Vous? Even though my kitchen is not open yet, this is big news. Our Alpharetta kitchen just won a big prize! For those not in the know, Alpharetta is north Atlanta. I know because in a previous life, I worked out of an office there, meaning my boss was there. I traveled to the area a lot and can tell you it is a very nice, booming area with tons of great restaurants. Anyway, Joe Hsu, the General Manager of that kitchen recently entered our Mesa Verde Flank Steak into competition at the “Taste of Alpharetta” event.

The result is this quote taken from the Atlanta Journal Constitutional newspaper’s report on the event: "One of the surprises of the evening was the Best Casual dish, prepared by chef Joe Hsu of Entrée Vous, the make-and-take kitchen on Holcomb Bridge Road." Congratulations Joe! They might have been surprised but none of us that have eaten Entrée Vous food is surprised even though the competition is stiff and he hasn't even been open a year! Way to go, Joe! So if you live near there, what more reason do you have than to go by and try it! It's that good. And for those waiting for my kitchen to open, it's still going to be a few months, but now you know what you're waiting for. Great food, good enough to win first place!

Here is the menu for July! If you live near an Entrée Vous kitchen, give it a try. I guarantee you won't be disappointed!

1- Margarita Beef Kabobs
Beef tips marinated in citrus, fresh cilantro, chipotle peppers, and tequila are skewered and grilled for the perfect summer evening patio party.

2- Chicken Croquettes
Finely diced chicken meat, celery and herbs in a breaded croquette.

3- Mahogany Glazed Salmon
A sweet glaze made with soy sauce, ginger and garlic complements delicious salmon filets.

4- Chicken Santa Fe
Diced chicken breast, corn tortillas, green chilies and cheese sauce all layered in a casserole.

5- Mesa Verde Flank Steak
You’ll stuff this flank steak with a mixture of spinach, cheese, mushrooms and optional bacon for an entrée that is both beautiful and delicious.

6- Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breasts with Cream Cheese Filling
Boneless chicken breasts are filled with an herb cream cheese and wrapped with bacon.

7- Pork Chops with Orange Chipotle Sauce
Pork chops baked in a rich tomato sauce accented with the sweetness of orange and the smoky spice of chipotle peppers.

8- Ravioli Lasagna
A delicious variation of a well known dish. Ravioli filled with three cheeses are layered with a Bolognese style beef, mushroom, and tomato ragout.

9- Tuscan Pork Loin
A generously cut pork loin roast is rubbed with Italian seasonings, chopped garlic, fresh basil, and green onions. Roast in your oven. This entrée cannot be split.

10- Imperial Orange Chicken
These luscious chicken breasts pair the sweet flavor of orange with savory cilantro and green onion.

11- Fiesta Shrimp
A flavorful explosion of shrimp, corn, and fresh herbs, served over rice.

12- Grilled Chicken Breasts Modena
Aged Balsamic Vinegar, olive oil, fresh basil and garlic make these chicken breasts low in fat but full of flavor.

13- Southwestern Egg Rolls
One of our biggest hits, these eggrolls are filled with chicken, corn, black beans and cheese.

14- Chicken with Pesto, Bacon, and Pecans
Chicken breasts are topped with pesto, pecans, and mushrooms, finished with cheese and a hint of smoky bacon.

My kitchen is at 8200 Renaissance Parkway Suite 1003 behind the Streets of Southpoint beside the Super Target in Durham, NC. The phone number is 919-321-8666 and you can reach me at pbloodworth AT entreevous DOT com. My kitchen isn't on the website yet, but check it out for one near you!

Summer Camp

2007-07-03T09:40:00.000-04:00

It's really summer, although we have a few days break from the above 90's temperatures and are enjoying the low humidity. Last week was a real circus, being that we had kids for the week. For those that only know me through this blog, appreciate that we have no children although we enjoy them immensely and have a house and property which is great for kids (golf cart, 12 acres, indoor pool, spa, etc) it is something to get used to. One of my nephews (age 14) and two of my nieces (twins, age 11 soon to be 12) were here for the week at my neighbors pottery camp. They had a great time and so did we. When they pieces get glazed and fired, I'll post a few of them for fun! I can't wait for you to see them.

What to do about food when you have picky eaters (well the girls are picky)? Make them try new things, that's what. Monday we had cedar planked salmon with a maple glaze and rice pilaf and grilled vegetables. The appetizer was the kicker: we had stuffed squash flowers, stuffed with a pesto garbanzo bean mix. Quite good and they ate them, although they couldn't believe they were eating flowers. The next night we had Bricked Chicken that was marinated in a lemon garlic vinaigrette. Yum! It was their favorite for the week. One night we had pizza, one night we ate out because we went to the $2 movies at a wonderful old theater in Graham. They were excited because they sat in the balcony. The last night we made spaghetti and meat balls. Yes, we made the noodles from scratch and everyone always loves them, especially us!

Great fun last week at the AHHHH Spa (nickname for our place) with some great, well behaved inspired, gifted, fun kids! I didn't get a lot of pictures because everyone was hungry and I was late getting food on the table. We tend to eat later than a normal family! For recipes, go to the website!

Cheers!

Leslie's Green Beans

2007-07-01T10:40:00.000-04:00

We are starting to get some things in from the garden. Potatoes and peas are about finished. We are harvesting squash, cucumbers and green beans mostly. I had a big picking of green beans and decided to try a wonderful recipe that I have had for years from my friend Leslie. It is Asian inspired so I briefly marinated two beef fillets, cooked up some Jasmine rice and served it with fresh green beans. I cut up a cucumber in rice vinegar with a touch of soy, sugar, oil and green onions.

It was great. Ginger was in two and green onions in three of the dishes helping to tie the flavors together.

Without further adieu,

Leslie's Green Bean Recipe

1 lb green beans, trimmed
6 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
oil for frying
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 large green onion, thinly sliced
2 T rice wine vinegar
2 t sugar
2 T sesame oil
2 T water

Fry the green beans in oil, 10-12 at a time, until blistered, but not brown. Drain and put into serving bowl. Repeat until all the beans are cooked. Mix together the remaining ingredients (soy sauce - water) until sugar in dissolved. Pour over the beans. Top with bacon crumbles and serve.

Another note, one of the benefits of writing a food blog is the new friends you meet that you know you have something in common with. The second is the collection of recipes that you build for yourself. I now find it easier to go to my website to find recipes. It's great.

I think this qualifies for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by the esteemed founder Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen. Be sure to check back in for the roundup to get new ideas for recipes from foodies around the world. It's better than some food magazines.

Joanne Weir in NC

2007-06-23T08:55:00.000-04:00

I signed up for three cooking lessons at A Southern Season earlier in the year after having taken only one there before, as a gift. The three I signed up for was not so much for the lesson, but for exposure to three chef's whose cookbooks I love: Diana Kennedy, Patricia Wells and Joanne Weir. I just finished the last of the three with Joanne Weir. It was great. She is beautiful,
speaks often and speaks well, is vivacious and funny. She is committed to fresh, local ingredients, probably stemming from her Chez Panise background, having worked every job over 5 years.

Our menu:
Fennel Sausage Crostini
Pork Tenderloin Wellington (or Pork Cooked the Tuscan Way)
Grilled Vegetables
Grilled Polenta Cake with fresh fruit

EVERYTHING was wonderful. I was having guests through the next night and had already purchased pork tenderloin so all I had to purchase after that evening was the sausage for the crostini. I made everything but the polenta cake. I am not a big sweets eater and this cake was right up my alley but didn't see the need for it. I got pictures from the dinner here not from the class. This is how it turned out.

Hints on the recipes:

The crostini was spicy Italian sausage with cheese and fennel added, spread on the bread, then baked until brown. It makes me hungry just writing about it.

The pork tenderloin was to die for. She got the recipe from one of the best known butchers in Italy. The meat was seared off, then rolled in herbs (rosemary, sage, fennel, and garlic), placed in a gutted out, half baguette, tied and baked! Yum, yum, yum. The bread turns out crispy and the meat stays juicy. How can you beat that? Well, to be honest, I left out the secret ingredient: it wasn't fennel it was fennel pollen. Of coarse they sold it there. It is so strong that you can smell it through the plastic zip lock bag. With a vineyard and a husband that breeds grapes (working on a seedless muscadine and we could have just planted it/them), we have come to know the intense smell of grape pollen. I wonder now, if you could cook with it, because fennel pollen is incredibly intense and you don't need much of it to flavor a dish. It's available on Amazon or at Zingermans's. I think you should try it!

From the gourmetsleuth.com:

Fennel pollen

Fennel Pollen is collected from wild fennel. Flowers are picked at full bloom, and then dried and screened to assure the sweetest and best flavor possible. Often referred to as the Spice of Angels (I like that), Fennel Pollen makes any ordinary dish extraordinary.

We served it with risotto with fava beans, peas and asparagus.

I am submitting this for this weekend herb blogging hosted this week by Paulchens Foodblog. Please hop over there and read the recap on Monday. You'll be sure to find something interesting to eat, view, try or cook from foodies all around the world. If you're looking for more recipes, go to my website.

Cheers!

Father's Day

2007-06-22T18:44:00.000-04:00

Fathers Day.

We went home to Virginia for father's day. It was in the mid-nineties and we grilled outside. My brother and his wife live at the (beautiful Carolina) coast and brought fresh grouper right off the boat as well as flounder and crab. We grilled half of the fish and fried the rest along with some hush puppies. Crab cakes with the lump crab meat. For sides we had cole slaw, two kinds of (new) potato salad (the potatoes were from my garden): old fashioned and new fashioned, the later with capers, green onions, mint and a lemon, mustard vinaigrette, grilled zucchini, yellow squash, onions and peppers, a fresh fruit and vegetable platter loaded up but the cucumbers, onions, radishes and tomatoes were from Mom and Dad's incredible garden. For desserts we had cupcakes made in ice cream cones, a blackberry cobbler and Not Yo Mama's Banana Pudding.

Summertime.

Only one picture 'cause I forget my camera. Sorry. I know the crab cake recipe is on the website. I'll post my traditional potato salad recipe here. The picture is from the other potato salad and is from the left-overs I brought home. Not great but it'll have to do!

Traditional Southern Potato Salad

2 pounds new potatoes scrubbed and cubed
salt to taste
2 hard-cooked eggs, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup sweet relish
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoon prepared mustard
1/2 tea celery seed
2 T parsley, diced

Cook potatoes until tender. Cool. Add eggs, celery, onion, relish and pepper to potatoes. Mix lightly.

In a separate jar add mayonnaise, 2 T juice from relish jar, mustard, pepper and celery seed. With lid on shake until well blended. Mix carefully in with potato mixture to blend adding parsley. Chill at least 1 hour before serving. Taste for salt and add more, if necessary.

Note: I love this potato salad. However, in my family, one person doesn't like onions, another onions, relish, eggs and mayo. If I was going to satisfy everyone, I guess we'd have parsley potatoes and forget about the potato salad. I put in all in.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there. I'm lucky to have mine. He's the best Dad in the whole wide world! Cheers!

Entrée Vous Update!

2007-06-10T09:03:00.000-04:00

I signed a lease! It was signed in late May and I have been busy working with the restaurant equipment provider and the architect and how am starting to negotiate with the contractor. We are going to be located at 8200 Renaissance Parkway Suite #1003 in Durham. If you live in the area, it is next to The Streets of Southpoint beside the Super Target. A great location and I am very excited!

I have started a newsletter to update everyone on what's happening. I am going to try it monthly, although if things start happening fast, I may do some updates every few weeks until we open. That, my friends, is being optimistic. I may already have your email, but if you want to opt into my newsletter, please send me an email at pbloodworth at entreevous dot com and I'll add you to the list. Would love for you to join the party.

Hope to see you there.

In the meantime, go to the website for recipes. If you currently are a guest at one of the Entrée Vous that are open, you can get great side recipes at my site.

Relishing what the future has to bring!

Cheers,

Peggy

Fresh Morels

2007-06-09T12:11:00.000-04:00

We are big fans of chicken. It's light, cooks fast and is extremely versatile. We were shopping at Whole Foods and saw fresh morels. I recently read an article that they grow here and can be found for about three weeks in the spring. There are apparently false morels too, so you need an experienced morel person to teach you where to find them and how to identify them. They were $39.99/lb. Wow! Well, you don't need many of them for this dinner for 2, only and ounce or two, so we bought them. You can rarely find them fresh and you only live once.

Chicken with Morels and Spring Vegetables was the result.

2 chicken breasts halves, pounded between 2 sheets of plastic wrap
flour for dredging
salt and pepper
2 T butter
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup sherry
1 ounce morels
3/4 cup green peas
1 cup chopped ripini
1/4 cup fat free half and half
3 T chopped parsley
2 T chopped chives
1 T chopped tarragon

Par boil the ripini for about 2 minutes. Drain and cool. Salt and pepper chicken.
Dredge in flour, shaking off excess. Heat oil in a skillet large enough to hold all
of the chicken. Melt butter in skillet. Add chicken and brown a minute or two on each side. Remove. Add the chicken stock and sherry to the pan. Cook 2 minutes. Add morels, ripini, peas, chicken, half and half and herbs. Simmer for about 5-8 minutes until the sauce thickens. Serve over rice or pasta to sop up some of the delicious sauce.

This is being submitted to weekend herb Blogging hosted this week across the pond by Ulrike of Kuchenlatein. Be sure to go for the round up on Monday.

Relishing your opinions!

Breakfast and/or Brunch

2007-06-09T10:22:00.000-04:00

Katie from Thyme for Cooking, the Blog, my compadre in many ways on gardening, eating, cooking and philosophy, has tagged me for the Brunch Meme. It it a first. No one has ever tagged me ever other than the real touch tag as kids. (do kids still play tag?) Thanks Katie! I will be interested in your feedback.

I DID grow up and still live in the south and brunch wasn't a big thing. Maybe, maybe not, you'll be surprised at what we serve, or like, for breakfast.

First, if I'm the cook for a crowd, it is usually made to order, short order cook style. I love to have bacon, sausage (we get great local sausage from southern pig farmers) and ham (country, of course) with toasted breads (local seeded multi grain), grits, the huz's favorite (we do a combo of local white and yellow), hash browns (my favorite). Muscadine jelly or raspberry or fig (yes homemade) is added for those with a sweet tooth (not me). And in-season fruit! If it's a big enough crowd, we'll make blueberry pancakes or pecan waffles.

A perfect breakfast for me (or brunch) is Smithfield country ham (better than any ham you can get, anywhere, ever!!!!), very thinly sliced and quickly sauté, a fresh egg from a neighbor, over well, on a sandwich with hash browns (the shredded kind), fresh sliced tomatoes, a slice of fresh picked fruit (whatever: strawberries, blueberries, figs, cantelopes), a cup of strong black coffee, dark roast. The huz would be quite different.

When entertaining friends, we like to make eggs Benedict, but we have friends that don't like 'Canadian' bacon so we substitute crab. An English muffin, crab cake, poached egg with freshly made hollandaise and a mimosa. Lately, we've been having sour cherry juice and champagne. It's yummy.

However, the truth be known, lately, we've been trying to loose some weight and unless we have guests, mostly we've been rotating breakfast; one day, hard boiled egg with fat free cottage cheese and yogurt and the next, an egg white omelet stuffed with Gwatney low fat sausage, sautéd with bell pepper, onion, garlic and low fat provolone cheese and topped with homemade salsa. Another occasional treat is our version of shit-on-a-shingle. Other breakfasts that I grew up on is fried salt fish but I haven't had it in years.

One more thing on breakfast. We found a wonderful diner in Burlington, called Larry's Highway 70 East diner. It is immaculate with a typical stainless steel and red interior and much Coke memorabilia. It is now being run by the second generation. They cure their own hams and grow make their own sausage. They serve home grown tomatoes with their breakfasts, in season, and make their own preserves, like pear and apple. Unbelievable in this day and age.

So who can I tag?

Jmom from In Our kitchen to get a Filipino/American/Southern twist to it. She just did an egg post but maybe has a different view of brunch.
Katie from Kaybrays Cooking my Entree Vous Friend and fellow foodie.

BTW: I love breakfast! I forgot about sweet potato biscuits. You can find the recipe on the website.

With Relish!

Zucchini Fritters

2007-06-02T12:09:00.000-04:00

We went to the eastern shore of Virginia to visit the huz's uncle. He is in an assisted living home and will turn 94 in June. We were reminiscing about the seafood places he had taken us to on the shore. At one of these places we had zucchini fritters as a side and they were so good, when we got home, we called and ask for the recipe and they gave it to us. His uncle was surprised to hear this because other people had asked the their requests had never granted it. He is pretty well known over there and assumed that they probably gave to us because of him along with the fact that we lived so far away and we promised never to reveal it. This is not the recipe, but how it has developed over the last 20 years or so. I know that I did zucchini for WHB last week, but we just has this and it is very good and worthy of bring to the forefront. It is the huz's favorite way to eat zucchini.

2 medium zucchini, shredded
2 medium shallots, shredded
2 cloves garlic, shredded
1/4 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tea baking powder
a pinch salt
enough fat free half and half to hold everything together
Oil for frying

Mix well. It should be the consistency of pancake batter. Cover the bottom of a skillet with canola oil and heat over medium heat until hot. Drop batter by heaping tablespoons into hot oil and sauté until brown, turning and browning on the other side. Drain well and eat fast!

This IS being submitted for weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by the creator Kalyn. Be sure to go to her blog for the weekly round-up which is always chock full of great ideas from food bloggers the world over.

We had them with chicken picatta which was a lovely combination. The recipe is already posted on the website.

Cheers!

Lunch with Patricia Wells

2007-05-26T13:06:00.000-04:00

I had lunch with Patricia Wells

Really!

A Southern Season, our wonderful locally owned gourmet store, has a great cooking school and have been getting in some incredible chef's. If I already have their cookbook and love it, it is a must do. I didn't like the format of this class as much as the other two I have taken there. The first two were real demonstrations of cooking by the chef's. This was lunch with whoever you happened to sit at the table with. Fortunate for me, I saw the wife of the huz's partner. I was surprised she was there because she lives in Greensboro. Her husband has a vineyard and grows out some of the wine grape crosses that the huz makes. I later found out that my good friend Pat was there with her husband John. I can not believe we didn't see each other.

Anyway, lunch was made by the staff from Patricia Wells' new book, Vegetable Harvest. She picked out the recipes and discussed them and ate at one table. She signed cook books and answered questions, but I think it would have been better if she had mingled more. Regardless, I purchased the new cookbook and had her sign the two I already had, Bistro Cooking and Simply French.

The menu:

Couscous Salad with Spinach, Parsley and Spring Onions with Creamy Lemon-Chive Dressing
Zucchini Carpaccio with Avocado, Lemon Thyme and Pistachio Oil
Potato Salad with Spring Onions, Capers and Mint
Grenadine, Rhubarb and Raspberries

The wines:
2005 Domaine de L'Idylle Roussette De Savoie Altesse
2004 Chateau Marouine Cotes de Provence

All of the food and wine was good. I came home and made the Zucchini Carpaccio although without the $24 for 8 ounces of pistachio oil. We served it with Sea Scallops on a bed of leeks from the same cookbook.

We are still cooking out of it, last night we had roasted chicken with shallot vinaigrette, which cooked in the oven with a timer while we we were working in the vineyard and it came out perfectly juicy and tender!

From Patricia Wells Vegetable Harvest: Zucchini Carpaccio with Avocado, Lemon Thyme and Pistachio Oil

1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tea fine sea salt
4 T best-quality pistachio oil, almond oil, or olive oil (I used olive oil and it
tasted perfectly fine)
4 fresh, small zucchini (about 4 ounces each) rinsed, dried, trimmed at both ends
1 ripe avocado, peeled and sliced very thin
1/4 cup salted pistachio nuts
4 sprigs fresh lemon thyme (I used regular thyme) with flowers, if possible
zesty lemon salt (zest of one lemon mixed with 1/4 cup fleur de sel)

In a small jar, combine the lemon juice and salt and stir to blend. Add the oil, cover the jar, shake to blend.

With a mandoline or very sharp knife, slice the zucchini lengthwise as thinly as possible. Place the slice on a platter, pour the lemon mixture over the zucchini. Mix well to evenly coat the slices. Cover with plastic wrap and let marinade at least 30 minutes and up to one hour.

At serving time, carefully arrange the slices of marinated zucchini on individual
plates, alternating with the avocado slices, slightly overlapping each slice. Sprinkle with pistachio nuts. Season with salt and thyme.

This is being submitted to Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Ellie of Kitchen Wench. Be sure to go to her site on Monday and read the round-up from foodies around the world. It is always very good.

Eating, Drinking and being Merry

2007-05-25T14:48:00.000-04:00

Friends don't let friends leave without food.

We had some of our best friends for a long weekend of eating, drinking and being merry. They actually helped us get caught up by power washing the deck and helping us transplant tomatoes. YEH!!!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Now for the food. Thursday night we had Moroccan Tuna skewers with couscous and grilled vegetables.

Friday night, we started with poached garlic soup.

We smoked some rib and grilled pork chops along with grilled vegetables including grilled sweet potatoes and wonderful wilted spinach salad with raisins and homemade garlic croûtons.

Saturday night we had an Indian inspired evening with dal in a spicy tomato butter (palak moong), curried chicken with yogurt, basmati rice, samosas, cilantro chutney, raita, garlic relish, roasted eggplant in yogurt, lots of beer. On Sunday, we went to a pot luck to support the orchid society's spring orchid auction for lunch. We didn't have much time, so we used what we had in the freezer and made mini-turkey burgers on dill rolls with cheddar cheese and succotash with butter beans and corn. Sunday night was a Mexican/Greek combination. I had been dying to try this Diana Kennedy recipe for angel air soup and it turned out divine. The huz thought it was better than spagetti, which is awesome. It's a recipe that everyone who likes pasta and heat will love! After that, the main dinner was

souvlaki, tzatkiki (leftover raita), pita, a Greek salad with lots of olives and feta, and spanikopita.

Oh, and we took the eggplant and yogurt and added sesame tahini and made a pseudo babaganosh. We picked grape leaves for dolmas but ran out of time! Another yummy weekend, over and done, but with great friends who love to eat!

For recipes, check out the website!

Seafood is In (season)

2007-05-17T15:04:00.000-04:00

We've been finding great prices on seafood of late. I'm assuming it is because it is in-season. We headed home for Mothers Day and saw both of our mothers. At the huz's mothers we made a seafood extravaganza.

We had beautiful sea scallops seared with cumin, crab cakes and a spicy garlic, thyme and cayenne shrimp sauté . We roasted vegetables including fresh local asparagus and had a big Greek style Salad. Several of the recipes have been posted before. Go to the website for more recipes.

Last night we had jerk chicken, one of my favorites along with sautéd red cabbage with peppers, onions and caraway seeds and finished with a bit a balsamic and yellow rice cooked in chicken stock.

I came back to town and bought some more of the scallops. Maybe tonight we'll have surf and turf.

Life is good.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes and Roasted Brussel Sprouts

2007-05-10T14:37:00.000-04:00

Why is it that some people have try new recipes all the time and some people eat the same thing, day in, and day out? I guess for those of us that variety is the spice of life, we continue to be motivated by new tastes.

One night we tried the flat iron steaks the local grocers have been marketing. I ask the butcher at Kroger and he said it was a cut normally only sold to restaurants and people had been asking for it so they were now selling it to the average Joe. We had it grilled and served with a smoky and fiery dressing that was terrific.

Then we made Spanish spiced chicken with a mustard green onion sauce served with roasted Brussel sprouts and grilled sweet potato salad with pancetta and rosemary vinaigrette. (sorry, the picture with the sauce with the chicken was out of focus so you're just seeing the chicken right off the grill.) UMMMMMMM! Now there are 2 things that are easy and if you haven't tried them, really good.
Cook a big sweet potato whole until a skewer just goes through it, with a bit of resistance. Remove from water and cool. Slice, brush with olive oil, salt and pepper anhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gif
Add Imaged grill, a few minutes on each side. They are perfect just like that but you can finish with a vinaigrette.

Roasted brussel sprouts are the other thing. I find that it concentrated the flavor and I like it a lot better than steaming or boiling them. Trim them up, mix them in a bowl with olive oil, a few minced garlic, some pancetta, salt and pepper and spread them on a baking sheet and bake at 400 for about 30 minutes, tossing several times during cooking.

I am submitting this to Weekend Herb Blogging hosted this week by Pat at Up a Creek Without a Patl. When I went to her blog link to her, I realized that she posted about brussel sprouts last week. Shame on me for not seeing it. But great minds (cooks) think alike and our recipes are different and I have grilled sweet potatoes thrown in for fun. Please go to her blog on Sunday night, Monday morning to check out the round-up. It is always great.

And for great recipes, go to my website.

Cheers!

Diana Kennedy

2007-05-09T09:30:00.000-04:00

I was absolutely thrilled last Saturday to have the pleasure to take a cooking class at A Southern Season by Diana Kennedy. It wasn't really a class, in the since of a hands-on kind of thing. It was more like a demo. The classroom is well done, tiered so that everyone can see and they have close-up cameras so you can see the preparation very close-up. There were about 50 people in the 'class'. She actually came to town early and they shop and do the preparations so that even though she is actually preparing it 'live', they (the cooking school staff and volunteers) have collectively assisted her in pre-preparing the food in advance so that by the time she finishes a dish there are small plates of food for each of us to try. We started with hibiscus tea and water at every plate.

About Diana Kennedy: She is truly a legend; most assuredly the best known expert on Mexican cooking in the world. She went to Mexico in 1957 to marry Paul Kennedy, the foreign correspondent for the New York Times. In 1969, she started teaching Mexican cooking classes and published her first cookbook in 1972. I probably bought in in the mid 1980s. She has been decorated with the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor bestowed upon foreigners by the Mexican government and is recognized by them as the authority on the regional cooking of Mexico.

She was delightful and very outspoken and opinionated and generously spent a good deal of time answering questions. She is very passionate about ecological
preservation (hates plastic bags and saves oil and doesn't waste water). She made three dishes for us:

The first course was Sopa Seca de Fideo. I don't know how it translates. It is
basically angel hair noodles which are fried in oil, then tomatoes, onions and garlic are added and the noodles are broken apart and cooked until they are softened and the liquid mainly cooked away. Then chicken stock is added and it cooks some more. It is finished with cheese and creme fraiche. Totally yummy! The second dish was Ensalada de Nopales, which was a salad layered with lettuce, cactus pieces sauted with onion and chilled, tomatoes, red onion, pork rind, cilantro, cheese and avocado with lime juice. This was my first experience with cactus and I really liked it so we (my sister Jo Anne, who attended the class with me) came home made it for the hus. They didn't permit cameras in the classroom, but since I made it at home, you get to see what it looks like it looks like when we added it to the lettuce after cooking and cooling and the finished salad.

We served it with pork cooked in a chili sauce.

The last dish was Pollo en Mole Verde or Chicken in Green Mole. Mole is really a mixture and this was was filled with green goodness, lettuce, cilantro, chard, parsley, pablano, serrano, tomatillo, among other things. Really, really good!

I highly recommend her books especially if you are into authenticity. The books I have had for years are The Art of Mexican Cooking, about to be republished and Mexican Regional Cooking. I just bought My Mexico. I can't wait to try a lot of the recipes. I hope you will too!

For recipes, check out the website and until next time

Asparagus Torta

2007-05-07T10:32:00.000-04:00

I thought that I had documented almost every way to cook asparagus in my first post ever, but there are always new ideas and recipes from around the world as well as creative innovations. We finished off a great dinner and discovered that we had forgotten to include the asparagus picked earlier. So we found a recipe for an asparagus torta and modified it to suit what we had available and had it for breakfast. It was delightful.

the recipe:

1 T ghee
1/2 Vidalia onion, minced
2 scallions, minced
1 T sage leaves, minced
1 T chives, minced
5 large eggs with 2 of the egg yolks discarded
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 cup fat free ricotta cheese
2 cups asparagus, cut into 2" pieces

Heat oven to 400. In a 9" oven proof skillet, melt ghee and sauté the onion, scallions, sage and chives over medium low heat until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. In a bowl, combine eggs, Parmesan, and ricotta and beat with a whisk until smooth. Add the asparagus to the skillet, mixing in and spreading out until well distributed. Pour the egg mixture over the top, shaking to make sure it covers the whole pan. Bake until a knife comes out clean, about 30-40 minutes.

For more recipes, check out my main website. Until next time, cheers.

Brown Mustard Seeds and Dinner Outside

2007-05-02T18:35:00.000-04:00

We found out a few days ago that our dear friends, Oldakar and Nums, were going to be in town for a conference and were staying over Saturday night. Great! What's for dinner? I love to ponder these things. We see them enough that we have eaten a lot of great food together. I know that they'll eat anything but the hus of this couple loves Indian food, especially condiments and I have an abundance of volunteer coriander that is going to bolt soon as a result of the summer-like weather.

So let's start with coriander chutney. Condiment #1.

This month's Cooking Light has a recipe for Pork Vindaloo with Raita.

I also found these wonderful champagne mangoes that are perfectly ripe for mango chutney.

Condiment #3. And I bought a whole bag of Vidalia onions. Let's make a
pickled onion chutney as condiment #4.
I also have store bought Garlic Relish
and tomato chutney to round it out. And if that isn't enough, let's round run out to the Indian grocer to pick up some spices and what do you know, they are selling just made samosas.

I've got to buy them (they were the hottest thing in the whole dinner. I decided that all the Indian cookbooks must chill the heat down for the American palate. Unfortunately, we like it hot!). I decide to make some naan to use for dipping.

Main course and condiment #2.

I had these wonderful green beans from CostCo. Hmmmm. Green beans with coconut and brown mustard seed with basmati rice. Side 1 and 2.

The recipe we are going to provide is for the green beans because they were new and yummy and easy. Brown mustard seeds are a great addition. We used them in the mango chutney as well. A perfect ingredient to submit to this weeks Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by the cookin' founder Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen. Be sure to go to this site Sunday evening or Monday morning for great reads from foodies around the world.

Green Beans with Coconut and Brown Mustard Seed

1 lb. green beans
1 tea. turmeric
2 T sesame oil
1 tea brown mustard seeds
1 hot pepper, seeded and diced
1/3 cup shredded coconut
2 T chopped coriander leaves

Parboil the green beans in salted water with a teaspoon of turmeric until just
barely tender, about 7 minutes. Drain and cool. Heat oil and mustard seed until
mustard seeds start to pop. Add coconut and peppers and cook one minute. Add green beans and mix well, heating through. Add coriander leaves and serve.

Yum. And it is so beautiful out, that the hus makes a table for is in the middle
of the field so we eat outside with no bugs. Talk about a beautiful evening with wonderful friends and great food!

For more recipes, check out the website: Swank Recipes. Or, if I write about a food and the recipe isn't published yet, send me a note and it will motivate me to add it to the collection, sooner than later.

Until next time, Cheers!

Shrimp 2 Ways

2007-04-25T08:48:00.000-04:00

Before I left for Entrée Vous training, I stopped by the market to stock up for the hus and shrimp was on sale for $3.99/lb. It was easy peel and looked good so I picked up 2 pounds and put them in the freezer until I returned. I thawed them out on Saturday and the hus peeled them. Sunday night marinaded 1 lb. in a teriyaki marinade and stir fried them with fresh aspargus from the garden and yellow bell pepper. It was great!
Last night we cooked the other pound. It was a recipe from Rick Bayless' book, Mexico, One Plate at a Time. I have to tell you, the kitchen still smells good. Here is the recipe:

1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled
salt
juice of 1 lime
1 chipotle pepper in adobo, seeded and cut into strips
1 lb shrimp, peeled
2 T cilantro

Mince the garlic in a food processor. Heat garlic, olive oil and a pinch of salt in a saucepan, just until it starts to bubble, like sparkling water bubbles. Keep on the lowest temperature and just barely simmer for 30 minutes, or until the garlic is lightly browned the color of light brown sugar. The slower the simmer, the sweeter the garlic. On my lowest temperature, it took less than 30 minutes. Add lime juice and continue simmering for 5 minutes. Add pepper. In a separate pan, put in several tablespoons of the garlic oil. Heat and add shrimp, stirring until just pink, about 3-4 minutes. Off heat, sprinkle with cilantro and a T of the garlic, pepper mixture. Garnish with lime wedges and serve. The leftover oil can be used on everything!!

Check out my recipes on the website. Also check out the website of my new friend Katie, who likes to cook as much as I do. A food snob too, she's part of my new Entrée Vous family and I met her before I met her blog! Enjoy!

Re: my Entrée Vous: I hope, by next week to have signed a lease and can tell you where I am going to be!

Duck!

2007-04-12T21:11:00.000-04:00

I'm not big on cooking duck, in fact, I haven't cooked it in a very long time. I have had some incredibly good duck on more than one occasion cooked by our neighbor, Marne, a fabulous cook as well as at restaurants around the world. Why don't I cook it, you ask? Well, first, it is not readily available; you have to know when and where to find it. Second, it's not so much that I am intimidated by it, but I really am less familiar with it, than say chicken, which I can cut up into pieces with one eye closed. Third, when you have a diet plan that requires you to reduce the fat in your for life, duck is listed as one of the big no-no's.

So recently when scanning cook books, I came across several duck recipes in Bobby Flay's Grilling For Life. It said duck breast shouldn't be reserved for restaurant fare; that it was quick, easy and when skinned, was very low in fat. So a few days later when shopping through Whole Foods, I saw individually packaged, fresh duck breasts for sale at reasonable prices, I went for it. We made Balsamic Thyme Glazed Duck Breasts and served them with brown basmati rice with some of the balsamic glaze drizzled over it, broccoli and a garden salad; yes, with fresh lettuce that survived the cold and is alive and well in our garden only because we planted it in the fall. Amazing that we are now reaping the benefits. To round it all out, we had a touch of mango salsa. All-in-all, a great dinner. Imagine that? Duck and low fat too!

For recipes, you'll have to go to the website. I am going to Kentucky for my Entree Vous Training next week and probably can not post anything at all. If I can, I'll post a few pictures. By the time I get back, I should be able to tell you where my first kitchen is going to be. Please check it out.

Love ya! Cheers,

Pookah

Harissa

2007-04-07T11:18:00.000-04:00

I have been inspired by Morocco of late. Specifically Joanne Weir's From Tapas to Meze. I suppose if you follow this blog, or just stumble upon it, we hunger for something until the hunger gets satisfied, then we move on to the next hunger. It's all about the food.

One night we had spiced grilled tuna with roasted peppers and onions and (more) fresh asparagus from our garden. The tuna only marinated about 45 minutes but I used one of those sealing devices to suck the air out which is supposed to make the marinade penetrate quicker. It was very flavorful so I think it worked. The spice combination was very complex, not the same as Indian cooking but the same kind of complexity. We liked it very much! And I want you to know that fresh asparagus, I mean freshly picked asparagus, has a totally different texture than what you buy at the store. I did a post a good while ago on asparagus. You should check it out!

Last night we made a lamb and lentil stew. It's cold again. Last night it got down to 28F and there is a dusting of snow on the ground. Since the vines are out, we think there is surely some damage; particularly on the vinifera. It's going to get colder tonight and probably have a significant impact on the industry state wide this year. Fortunate for us, our vineyard is a research vineyard since he (the hus) is a grape breeder working to develop better grape varieties for the southeast. So tests like this one let us know that we have something special. If we have vines that survive unaffected, then we know we've come closer to having a grape to replace the current varieties being marketed & planted. You'll be the first to know if there is a seedless muscadine out there that is resistant to freezing temperature. In 1997 we got down to 23 on April 11th. Most of the vines were leafing out, even more than they are right now. All of the vinifera were affected but most of the muscadines were unscathed, save Carlos, the most widely planted grape in the south. The cold killed the shoots that year resulting in little or no crop. All this cold weather made us want warming foods and this lamb and lentil stew was the perfect thing, warm, brothy and spicy with harissa. Harissa is a spice mix used frequently in Moroccan dishes.

It is quite easy to make yourself. I get small dried peppers. We can find them loose to purchase by the pound. I used small red ones, about an inch and a half long. Start with a generous 1/4 cup dried peppers. Bring peppers to a boil in about 1 cup water. Simmer 10 minutes. Let sit one hour. Drain. Put in a food processor with 3 large cloves garlic and a generous pinch of salt. Process well. Move to a storage container with a lid. Cover with enough olive oil to cover, about 3 or 4 tablespoons. Adding only 1 teaspoon to 6 cups of broth in this stew, highly flavored it. It was very, very good. For a green vegetable we had the hus's favorite asparagus: pan roasted in sesame oil and served with toasted sesame seeds.

Our spice this week is a spice mix, harissa, and is being submitted to Weekend Herb Blogging hosted this weekend by hosted by Anh from Food Lover's Journey. Be sure to go to her site on Monday evening and read about food from all over the world! It is always inspiring.

For more recipes, go to the website. Until next time, cheers!

Grilled Veggies, Grilled Breaded Pork Chops and Stuffed Peppers

2007-04-05T21:35:00.000-04:00

Everyone has their favorite pork chop recipe. We like them lots of ways. We have two go-to recipes. In the winter, it's pork chops with cardamom and carrots. It's slow-cooked, tomato & meat brothy, fall apart, bread dipping, soul-warming yummy. It summer it is breaded pork chops grilled.

If you haven't tried this recipe, check out the website. In fact, both recipes are there and are really good. They turn out amazingly good yet the recipe is easy and the cooking time fast. How can you beat that? I am amazed every time I try it, mainly because for the limited time it takes to prepare and cook, it it so juicy and tender! Try it with grilled vegetables. We had grilled peppers, eggplant, mushrooms, yellow squash, zucchini, and onions, all marinated in a bit of garlic and oil.

It's a no-heat-in-the-house recipe for warmer weather. It is dog-gone healthy, if you get lean chops. I could have some more right now!

Another night we had stuffed peppers. They looked so good in the pictures. Have you ever tried a recipe and your instincts told you that you should do it your own way, but instead, you thought, well, he is a well respected trained chef.....More often than not I change the recipe, but in this case I gave him (Michael Chiarello and his Tra Vigne cookbook) the benefit of the doubt and followed the recipe exactly. It was awful! The hint should have been that it was something his Mom made. His childhood memory of it clearly overrules his taste buds. The recipe calls for adding a substantial amount of water to the meat mixture to absorb the bread crumbs. What it tastes like it an under seasoned mush with a very strange texture we both found unpleasant. Even ours looked great.

Now I have to figure out how to rescue the remaining two without throwing the whole thing out. To be fair, it is the first recipe of his that I have absolutely not liked. It reinforced my belief that my instincts are generally accurate and I need to stick with them.

Adventures in the kitchen are always a learning experience, which is a good thing! I don't know why some people don't like to admit to having a bad experience. I say that's the way you learn as well as develop your tastes! You have to take the bitter with the sweet. Live and Learn!

Cheers!

April Fools!

2007-04-03T09:43:00.000-04:00

We had guests for dinner last night. It was rather short notice, which is good for me as I tend to over plan. Amanda is the daughter of our dear friend Donna. We have know her her whole life. She was in Chapel Hill with some friends, so I invited them over and they came. There were 4 females, all finishing there first year out of undergraduate schools; all beautiful, bright, interesting and young! I was so excited when they ask if they could come on Sunday night. It was April Fool's day and I was dying to try the recipe from the current issue of Gourmet Magazine. Keep reading to see why (read: who else would get excited about trying out a new recipe on guests, several of whom we had never met?). We were mainly having a Moroccan inspired dinner with an April Fool Dessert.

The main course was Bisteeya. I have posted on it before. Sorry didn't get a picture this time. I have an old one. At some point I'll try to recover it. I have tried 2 recipes and both of them are exceptional. With it we had a cous cous salad,

and orange, radish and carrot salad

and a
grilled zucchini succotash.

The dessert was what Gourmet labeled "Trompe L'Oeil". They look to be toast with eggs, but nooooo! The recipes are on the Epicurious website. There are two links for recipes. One for the toasts (biscotti) and the other for the lemon pudding (egg white) and the lemon curd (yolk). Actually none of them are difficult. The longest is the bread, like biscotti, actually it IS biscotti just shaped like a slice of bread. It takes time but not all is active time. Regardless, everything turned out marvelous, our guests enjoyed it, we enjoyed them and I got to have fun! Silly fun! And delicious too! How can you beat that? Aren't they cute? My neighbor said I should have died the eggs. Maybe next time!

Check out the main website for recipes. Be back soon.

Cilantro in Guacamole and Pablano Pepper Relish

2007-03-31T10:34:00.000-04:00

We are still in the vineyard every day so meals either have to be fast or planned ahead. Last night we made turkey burgers with pablano relish (Bobby Flay) and a guacamole cream (Greek yogurt, avocado, lime juice, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper) along with our second picking of asparagus EVER! We planted them several years ago and didn't pick a one last year, and this year we can only pick for a few weeks. We planted 2 varieties but only one of the purple ones have come up. We grilled them with a little garlic and olive oil. Great! Of course, we didn't come inside until dark, so dinner was at 9:00.

We also had Mexican inspired last night. It was planned ahead. It was red chili roasted chicken with potatoes, served with guacamole, marinated onions and a salad; from one of Rick Bayless's cookbooks. The chicken was okay; I think if I were to do it over again I would either cook it or marinade it a lot longer. The guacamole was, as always, wonderful. Just avocado, minced onion, serrano chili, chopped cherry tomato, cilantro, lime juice and salt. The onions were a great addition, I might add; just very thinly sliced tomatoes with a tablespoon or two of cider vinegar at least an hour before you eat. A simple but tasty condiment.

Why this obsession with south of the border? Well, two things. I stopped by A Southern Season and picked up there calendar. OMG! Diane Kennedy is coming!! I am signed up and so excited. Also Patrica Wells and Jo Anne Weir! World Class Chef's and Instructors! Wow. Then I was coming back in from the vineyard and walking through the remains of last years garden (read weeds) and no hopes of preparing it for a spring garden for at least another week, I discovered many random patches of cilantro in areas that will need tilling. This is the favorite herb of the founder and and host of weekend herb blogging, Kalyn, of Kalyn's Kitchen; Be sure to go there for the recap on Sunday. I grabbed a handful of it each evening on the way in and featured it in the pablano relish and in the guacamole, making it my herb of the week.

The recipe for the relish:

Pablano Pepper Relish (From Bobby Flay's Grilling For Life)

Serves 4

2 pablano chiles, grilled, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 large dill pickle, minced
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1/4 c lime juice
1 tea honey
1/4 tea salt
2 T finely chopped cilantro leaves
1/4 tea black pepper.

Combine all ingredients. Let sit at room temperature at least 30 minutes before serving.

That's it for today. Check out the website for more recipes.

Anise Almond Biscotti

2007-03-24T13:07:00.000-04:00

Although the weather has warmed up quite a bit, we are still finishing up on wintry foods. This week we had corn and crab chowder and country style steak. Tonight we're converting to summer by grilling some chicken teriyaki and serving it with a salad. Maybe spinach! That's leaping into summer mode. Check out some of our recipes at Swank Catering.

In the meantime, I've been experimenting with Biscotti. I made four different recipes, and I mean really different recipes. One had olive oil, the rest had butter. The consistency of them was very different. I tried making the long ones and had real problems with breakage. So I went back to a medium size, even though I prefer them small. I am making them for a small coffee gelato shop, experimentally.

These are the kinds I made over the last few days.

Almond Anise

Pistachio Cranberry

Chocolate Orange

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut

And the winner is.......well, although the prettiest is the pistachio, my favorite for flavor is Almond Anise. So my ingredient for the week is Anise, also known as anise seed or aniseed, submitted for weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by my friend Kate who has a wonderful blog Thyme For Cooking. Go and see what she's cooking and growing, which is consistently incredible; but especially go back late Sunday or Monday for the WHB roundup to see what foodies are cooking around the world. Back to Anise: According to The Food Lover's Companion, anise is known as far back as 1500 B.C. It is an annual plant and member of the parsley family. Both the leaves and the seeds have a distinct, sweet licorice flavor. The greenish brown oval anise seed flavors a variety of sweet and savory dishes. It also flavors drinks: Patis, arrack, annisette and ouzo. Anise seeds have been used as a digestive for centuries, and in India they are chewed after a meal not only as a digestive but to sweeten the breath. I grown quite fond of it and may even try planting it this year.

Michael Chiarella's Tra Vigne’s Biscotti

Makes about 40 cookies

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tea baking powder

1 tea salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup turbinado sugar (he calls for crystal sugar, but it's too expensive and hard to find)

1/3 c packed light brown sugar

5 large eggs

6 T anise seeds

1 cup unblanched almonds, toasted

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. In mixing bowl with paddle attachment, cream butter with both sugars. Add eggs, flour mixture and aniseeds. Beat on low until it just comes together. Add almonds and mix until just distributed. Do not overwork. On a floured surface, shape into a ball, flatten, put in a bowl in the frig to chill about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 325. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide dough into 2 pieces. Roll each into a log about 3" diameter. Roll in more sugar, if desired. I didn't. Place on prepared sheet, flatten slightly. Logs should be several inches apart.

Bake until firm and light brown, about 1 hour. When poked it should feel firm to the touch and not collapse or cave in. Remove from oven and lower temperature to 300.

When cooled completely, move to a cutting board and cut into 1/2" slices with s serrated knife. Cutting on the diagonal is a nice touch. Lay the slices down on a baking sheet and return to the oven for 50 minutes. Depending on your oven, you may need to turn them. Let cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Another quick idea we just uncovered for Anise. Have you seen the April Gourmet Magazine? They have the cutest idea for an "April's Fool" dessert. You basically make a recipe similar to the one above but bake it in a loaf pan. You cut them into slices, so they look like a slice of bread. You take extra large eggs and cut the tops out. You sterilize them in boiling water and try completely and fill first with a light lemon pudding (the whites) then with a lemon curd (the yolks). You serve them out of the shells and it looks like eggs and toast. It is so cute, I have to try it. I'll bet you can go on line and find the pictures and the recipe.

Cheers!

Saint Patty's Day with Bay Leaves

2007-03-18T11:55:00.000-04:00

My little bay tree. It is small but growing!

Saint Patrick's Day is over and what did you eat?

We kept with the green theme and had braised pork chops with leeks along with shamrock pasta with broccolini, garlic, red pepper flakes, a touch of stock and finished off with the undisputed king of cheese, parmesan reggiano. We were going to add a salad to that but decided it was green enough.

It was good with a touch of wine.

Our herb for this Weekend Herb Blogging is Bay Leaves, also known as laurel and is native to the Mediterranean. Technically, it is not an herb at all, but an evergreen perennial from the tree Laurus nobilis, its leaves are used dried or fresh. Bay leaf crowns were used for centuries to honor scholars, victors and heroes and as part of weddings and funerals. Baccalaureate = bacca + laureus = berry from laurel; one "earns her laurels" means honor and praise and "winning you laurels" is a symbol of triumph. Greeks dedicated the bay tree to Apollo as an emblem of the Sun God's power; believed to protect man from evil and his social well being. Delphic priestesses held bay leaves between lips when making prophesies.

* Sources: The Food Lover's Companion by Sharon Tyler Herbst and The Pleasure of Herbs by Phyllis Shaudys

There are two main varieties: one, Turkish with 1-2" oval leaves and the other, Californian with narrow 2-3" long leaves. The Turkish variety is more subtle than the Californian. Frequently used to flavor soups, stews, vegetables and meats, they are generally removed before serving.

My absolutely favorite dish to serve them with is Braised Pork in Balsamic Vinegar and Bay Leaves. The recipe is on the website. However, this weekend we used them in Braised Pork Chops with Leeks which was pretty darn good.

Braised Pork Chops with Leek

2 T extra virgin olive oil
4 3/4" thick pork chops
salt and pepper, to taste
2 large leeks, cleaned and chopped
one small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 bay leaves
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock

Preheat oven to 325. Heat olive oil in a pan that can hold all of the meat. Salt and pepper pork chops and brown on both sides, about 10 minutes, total. Remove from pan, reserve and add leeks and onion and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic. Stir one minute. Add wine and stir one minute. Return pork chops to pan, making sure the leeks and over the pork chops. Add bay leaves and chicken stock. Cover and put into preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove bay leaves and serve over something to sop up all those yummy juices.

Make sure you head up to Boston to check out this weekend's herb blogging by Becky at Key Lime and Coconut!

Pruning and Turkey Leftovers

2007-03-17T08:59:00.000-04:00

For those of you who lead normal 9 to 5 lives, you can not understand what March is to us. Pruning. It takes us most of the month to prune the vineyard. Yea, we take breaks and run out to the store. But most of the day light is spent clipping. After the first week the numbness and soreness in your hand seems to lessen. Last year, or the year before, we changed our technique. We used to just start at one side of the vineyard and go until we reached the other side. Now, we prune the muscadines first, then move to the muscadine hybrids (we may even be pruning the first marketable seedless muscadine! How exciting is that!) then finish the rest of the vineyard. What this means, is that we prune the hardest 'stuff' first and then it gets easier and easier. By the time you are over the soreness, it's a breeze and at the end, it is a piece of cake.

We finished the muscadines today, and tomorrow start the hybrids. The last few days have been unseasonably hot. Everyone else is saying how wonderful it is. When you prune muscadines by hand, you are covered head to toe; long pants, long sleeves, glasses and hats even if it is 80 degrees, which it has been. I don't remember pruning when it has been this hot. I would prefer it 15-20 degrees cooler.

What dies this have to do with food? Everything. It's what you have to do to get food on the table, if you're not one of the buy-everything-from-the-supermarket types and farm. And, if you want to eat, you have to plan around it, especially for really busy times like this. Yesterday, at one of our breaks, I put a turkey breast in the oven on a timer. Our oven can be timed to cook it for a length of time and then hold it. We had turkey with mashed potatoes and butter beans. On the way to the store, the next night, I stopped to drop off something at the neighbors and they invited us to stay. We had surf and turf: grilled steaks, twice baked (stuffed) potatoes, broccoli and left over desserts from our party, mainly mousses and truffles. Then it was turkey pot pie

and Italian wedding soup

with the turkey leftovers. Yum! All wonderful comfort food for the return of cooler weather.

The recipe for Italian Wedding Soup is on the website. I'll try to get around to putting the Pot Pie Recipe on their as well in the next day or so as well as adding some vineyard shots.

Until then, Cheers!

Garnish

2007-03-10T16:19:00.000-05:00

Instead of a focus on the ingredient or dish, let's try a different focus: garnishes. It is so important if you want to look pretty! Yes, Pretty! To be a garnish, it should be edible as well as complimentary to the food it is decorating. I made a lot of the garnishes for this party. I made candied orange rind and dried pepper/vegetable confetti and used chopped parsley, chopped dill, mint, basil leaves, strawberries, raspberries, almonds and chocolate covered espresso beans, all as garnishes. We also made crème fraiche and clotted cream to top several other things. Everything on every plate was edible, except the cups holding the truffles. I'll follow a recipe for candied orange peel. The menu was all finger food. Sorry, I didn't get pictures of everything.

The Menu:

Savories:

Puff Pastry Wrapped Shrimp stuffed with Crab Meat
Asparagus Wraps
Smoked Salmon Spread on Brown Bread
Baby Potatoes with Crème Fraiche & Caviar

Three kinds of Biscotti: Almond Anise, Parmesan with Pine Nuts & Green Olives, Orange with Pistachio & Black Olives

Bruscetta with two toppings: tapenade & fresh mozzarella, tomato & basil

Sweets:

Chocolate cups with three Mousse Fillings: Chocolate, Raspberry & Amaretto

Chocolate Truffles

Cream Tea Scones with Raspberry Jam & Clotted Cream

Recipe for Candied Rind, in this case Orange

Rind or zest of one orange, but into pieces. Nice strips are nice, 1/3" x 1 1/2", but any size will do. Boil rind gently for 10 minutes. Drain, run under cold water and dry on towels.

Boil 1 cup sugar with 1/3 cup water to 230 degrees. Remove from heat. Stir in peel and 1 tsp. vanilla extract. Let peel stand in syrup for at least 30 minutes. Take out and cool, separated on wax paper until dry. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. It keeps a few months in the freezer.

We are submitting it to weekend herb blogging, hosted this week by the newly married Anna at Morsels and Musings. Send her a note congratulating her then go check out the round up on Sunday night or Monday. It is always worth the time.

Try it and enjoy!

For more recipes check out our website or better yet, hire us for your swank party! Cheers!

There's something fishy going on..

2007-03-06T18:45:00.001-05:00

Something's fishy. The truth be known, they didn't smell fishy. ‘Twas the husband's birthday and he loves fish so I headed out to Kroger and couldn't find anything that looked appetizing so I went to Whole Foods and found some great fresh flounder fillets and bought them. Then I saw some sea trout and bought them too. And they had fresh shrimp for $4.99/lb and I bought that too. We had a friend here for the birthday dinner. I fixed the flounder the birthday boy's favorite way: salted and peppered, dredged in buttermilk, then in cornmeal and lightly sautéed. It was really tender and fresh tasting, not fishy at all. They were out working in the vineyard and on the trip to and from, discovered some broccoli rabe that was still good, so plucked it up and sautéed it with garlic and served over some soft polenta. For lunch the next day, we had the shrimp. Have you ever tried a recipe that turned out to be good, but you'll never do it again? That was how I felt when we had this shrimp for lunch. It was beautiful and tasty but waaaayyyyy too much trouble for me to make again, like this.
Last but not least, we grilled the trout and served it with a tomato vinaigrette, roasted asparagus and roasted potatoes.
Lovely. I should note that the moon rising in a full eclipse was the coolest thing to happen on one's birthday and why I didn't get a picture of that dish.

Cheers,

For recipes, check out the website and if it's not there, send me a note. It will get me motivated to get it on the list.

Parsley and Pasta

2007-03-02T18:30:00.000-05:00

Do you ever get in the mood for a food and you can't seem to get enough of it? It's been that way lately for me and pasta. No, this is not South Beach friendly. We did try it after it first came out. The first thing everyone needs to know is that every diet doesn't work for everyone. We were on it, very strictly, for 2 months. My husband, who has heart disease, had his cholesterol go UP 100 points in 2 months as a result
of the diet. It freaked his cardiologist out and he (we) can't follow it anymore. He (we) do try to limit the starches most of the time. But not this week.

First we had Broccoli Rabe with store bought pasta, noted in our previous blog. Then we tried Roasted Eggplant Ravioli with Roasted Tomato Sauce ala Tra Vigne.

Totally yummy. Roasting the eggplant, tomatoes and onions that went inside the ravioli then roasting the tomato sauce that sauced it make the flavors very intense. Being as eggplant is already the hus's favorite vegetable, this will become a staple, I am sure. Whole Foods had Sicilian Eggplant. They were huge, and even though I really object to the big seedy eggplants, I decided to try it. Hus thought it looked like a football. It really was very good and not very seedy considering the size.

We followed that with Spaghettini Squared, from the same cook book. It is spaghetti and zucchini spaghetti. You need a Benriner Spiral cutter. I don't have one but borrowed one from our wonderful neighbor, Marne, who is a very accomplished cook herself. (Hopefully, she's going to be part of my Entrée Vous venture.) The recipe was simple and it is below. I made the pasta and the dish turned out as a simple but delicious and beautiful way to eat pasta. If you don't have a spiral turner, you can julienne the zucchini with a Mandolin or cut it very very small with a knife.

Here's the recipe the way I cooked it. It is based on the recipe from Tra Vigne, by Michael Chiarella

Make a pound of spaghetti noodles (using 2 cups flour, 2 eggs, 2 T olive oil and enough water to hold it together.)

2 large zucchini
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
7 cloves garlic, minced
1 tea red pepper flakes
4 T basil, chiffonaded
3 T flat leaf parsley, minced
1/2 cup plus 2 T freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat water for pasta. Make pasta.

Cut zucchini into spirals and set aside.

Heat 1/4 c oil in large skillet over medium high heat until hot. Add garlic and saute until lightly starting to change color. Turn off heat and add pepper flakes. Quickly add basil and parsley. Remove from heat.

Put fresh pasta in boiling water and bring to a boil. Remove, drain (reserving 1/2 c pasta water) and pour into warm serving bowl. Add zucchini, remaining 1/4 cup oil, the garlic mixture and 1/2 cup cheese. Toss well, adding pasta water, if necessary to make a smooth sauce. Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper, if needed. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.

For more recipes, check out the website!

Eat, drink and be merry! And as far as dieting goes, I am a firm believer that you have to burn more calories than you take in. For the most part and for most people, it is that simple. Eat less, everything in moderation and exercise more.

Cheers.

Crabby

2007-02-28T19:11:00.000-05:00

No, I am not crabby. For the most part, I rarely am crabby; however, I do love crab and I DO mean Blue crabs. I HAVE tried the others, and I still think the Blue Crabs are the best. Way better than any lobster I have ever eaten. I'll take crab any day of the week.

I love food. As I started typing to discuss our latest dinner, I started to write I love crab. Then I thought that I love Broccoli rabe and pasta and garlic. I love food, almost all of it. I love to cook. I love to entertain. I love to find new recipes. I love to try new food. I love to feed other people. I love to grow
my own food and buy local. How lucky am I?

Which leads me to crab. Growing up in Virginia with wonderful parents that have the most perfect garden in the world, was and is a blessing. We have been part of the slow food movement before there was a slow food movement. Although we lived in central Virginia, my father had the number one slip at the Lynhaven marina at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay until the day he retired. I was on a fishing boat before I could walk. Although he doesn't fish much anymore, he is still an avid hunter, and we get loads of venison, which we love. And the garden is beyond belief, after putting manure on it for close to 60 years. It sits on a bluff in perfect soil which dries so you can walk through it an hour after a driving rain. Yes, we have a garden, in clay soil and it will never be as weed free and rich as my parents.

What does this have to do with where I started? Well, it has to do with crab. I remember the first time I ever ate crab, after crabbing in the Rappanhanock River with chicken necks. I was appalled at the sound of them clawing for their life after being dropped in the steamer. But after the first taste, I have spent many years on tables outside, covered with newspaper picking out crabs, dipping them in butter. I could and would do it for hours, ending with a huge pile of crab mung in the middle of the table. Oh, are the wonderful; and now EXTREMELY pricey. I didn't even have any last year, maybe the first year ever. There is nothing like it. #1 jimmies! Yum. Needless to say, I was a crab snob and would have never, never bought pasteurized crab. Then I went to assist a chef at a party that was making crab cakes for 300 (or was it 500). We made a lot of crab cakes using the canned, pasteurized crab from Costco. I couldn't believe it. It had big pieces of crab and in at least 20 pounds of crab, I didn't see one piece of shell and everyone raved over the crab cakes. I was hooked; and trust me, it beats shelling all that crab, although I will never pass up the opportunity. If you've never had it, go to a crab house sometime and try it. Get someone to show you the technique and be prepared for a feast as well as little cuts all over your hands.

Back to crab. We made crab cakes with Costco crab and they were yummy. We had it with broccoli rabe and pasta. The crab cake recipe is on the website.

Broccoli Rabe and Pasta

4 slices pancetta, minced

1 T extra virgin olive oil

1 bunch broccoli rabe, coarsely chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 T fresh thyme, minced

1 14 oz can low fat low sodium chicken stock

3/4 lb pasta (I like the shape and size of Campanelle to go with the broccoli)

Parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

Sauté pancetta in olive oil until very crisp. Remove. Add garlic to pan and sauté for about 1 minute. Add thyme. Stir. Add chicken stock and cook until it cooks down, about 5 minutes. Add broccoli rabe and cook until done, about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Serve with pasta topped with pancetta and shaved parmesan. Serves 4 healthy servings.

Enjoy and until next time, Cheers!

Be sure to check out Entree Vous if there's one in your neighborhood!

Corn Puddin'

2007-02-23T14:29:00.000-05:00

We been warming up a bit with temperatures in the 60s. It feels like the warm streak it is and we have been cooking accordingly. Last night we had Asian inspired hoisin pork chops with sautéed red cabbage and vegetable dumplings with a Chinese style mustard sauce and a soy/sesame dip.

The previous night we had jerk chicken thighs with homegrown butter beans from the freezer and corn pudding. It's pronounced puddin' in the south.

(The food is on a glass plate on a cutting board, in case you're wonderin')

In fact, that reminds me of a funny story. As a up-and-comer in the corporate world (a number of years ago, before I up, came, went and landed here), I was ask to fill in for a few missing senior executives for an executive presentation skills course. I was the junior person there. The instructor started the course giving a topic and asked each person to stand in the center of the room, unaided by a podium, charts or anything in their hands and discuss topic for 5 minutes with no preparation. At the end of the session each person was evaluated. I was told that I had a very low voice for a female, which carried very well and I had a lot of energy; therefor I should consider becoming a professional speaker. However, there was one thing I needed to work on first. I pronounce(ed) all verbs ending in "ing" without the "g": e.g. walkin', talkin', cookin'. I worked it for a long time, unsuccessfully and decided, after many years through the executive ranks, that I would rather be cookin' than public speakin'. Soon, if you live around the Triangle in NC, we could be helping you and your family eat well through my new venture, with Entrée Vous. Go to the website and check it out and better yet, go try it, if there's one near you. Come back here for updates on where what's happening with the development of my kitchen.

The recipe for southern cornbread is on the website. The recipe for corn puddin' is below:

Spoon Bread

1/2 cup sweet corn kernels
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 T melted butter
1/2 cup self rising yellow corn meal
1/2 tea sugar
1 tea baking powder

Preheat oven to 350.

Put corn in the blender. Add buttermilk and blend enough break corn apart. Add remaining ingredients and blend. Add more milk, if needed to make the consistency not too thick. Pour into buttered non-stick loaf pan or individual soufflé dishes. Bake for 25 minutes (loaf) or 15 minutes (soufflé) until just set in the middle. Serve hot with butter.

Anchiote or Annatto

2007-02-20T16:33:00.000-05:00

For once I am going to post to weekend herb blogging early in the week so I don't have to think about it until Sunday night or Monday, because we could be traveling the rest of the week and I might not have time to get around to it.

This week I tried something for the first time: Anchiote or Annatto.

The inspiration came from The Mustards Cookbook, by Cindy Pawlcyn. We just tried the recipe for Achiote Chicken with Black Beans, Mango Salsa and Lime Crème fraiche.

It tastes as beautiful as it looks. One of the really good things about it is that you can do most of the work in advance. The night before, I pressure cooked the black beans and made the mango salsa. The next morning finished cooking the black beans while I was making breakfast, which only took an additional 15 minutes and while they were cooking put the chicken into marinade. So when dinner time came all I had to do was grill the chicken, heat the beans and mix together the lime crème fraiche which took all of 15 minutes or less.

Two comments:

1.) A pressure cooker is a life saver for cooking beans. I use mine every week for one thing or another. I consider it a "must have" kitchen item. I use them for canning to, but those pressure cookers are a lot bigger. Don't be afraid of them. They are safe and a real time saver.

2.) Where to find Achiote: Although we have one of the largest Latino markets in the country, a huge Compare Foods, it is on the far side of Durham, more than 30 minutes away and a place I have to go out of the way to get to. I was willing to do it, but went to the Food Lion in Hillsborough, the small town we live in and amazingly, they had two brands of Achioti. They didn't have the paste that was called for in the recipe, but it was simple to mix a little water in it and make my own paste. It really died the meat red. Had I known, we could have had it as a Valentine dish. It s definitely something I will use again.

3.) What the &#$&#*%)# is Achiote you ask? Don't worry, I wondered too!

Quoted from The Food Lovers Companion:
Achiote [ah-chee-OH-tay] The slightly musky-flavored seed of the annatto tree is available whole or ground in East Indian, Spanish and Latin markets. Buy whole seeds when they're a rusty red color. Brown seeds are old and flavorless. Achiote seed is also called annatto which, in its paste and powdered form, is used in the United States to color butter, margarine, cheese and smoked fish.

Who'd have thought? Live and learn.

Give it a try! I think you just might like it!

This is being submitted for this weeks Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Anna at Anna's Cool Finds. Be sure to go there Sunday night or Monday morning for the round-up and read what people like us are cooking around the globe!

Recipes: This entire recipe is too long for me to type in, so instead, I'll tell you what I did.

As stated above, I pressure cooked a lb of beans in about 4 cups water, at pressure for 20 minutes and let it come down to temperature without fast chilling. Without draining, I chilled them overnight. Make your favorite mango salsa. Refrigerate. Make sure it has roasted bell pepper, cilantro and lime. Cook onions, bell peppers, garlic and one Serrano chili until soft. Add black beans with the juice and zest of an orange and lime. Mix in cilantro, salt and pepper taste. For the chicken, I used a combination of skinned chicken breasts and thighs, bone in. I mixed about an ounce of achiote powder with water to make a paste and added it to the chicken in a zip-lock bag and massaged it in well. You could do it an hour before or 24 hours. I put them into marinade in the morning for cooking in the evening and boy, were they red. I grilled them on a preheated, oil grill pan for 2 minutes, turned 1/4 turn and grilled 2 minutes more; flipped and grilled 3 minutes on the other side, then put in a preheated 350 oven for about 5 minutes. As for the lime creme fraiche, add lime juice and zest to creme fraiche or sour cream or look on my website for a wonderful side of lime dressing. Voila!

Leeks

2007-02-17T10:30:00.000-05:00

This Weekend Herb Blogging is hosted this week by The Chocolate Lady: In Mol Araan. Be sure to check out her round-up late Sunday or early Monday where you will here about food from around the globe!

Leeks, according to The Food Lover's Companion, are native to the Mediterranean countries, and have been prized by gourmets for thousands of years (wow). Nero believed leeks would improve his singing voice and is said to have eaten prodigious amounts quantities to that end. (nothing, I'm afraid, could improve this singing voice). In the sixth century AD (wow, again), the Welsh made leeks their national symbol because they were convinced that the leeks they wore on their helmets to distinguish them from their enemies strengthened them and helped them win wars.

I just like them, like I like onions and garlic to which they are kin. I just mentioned that I have been braising leeks of late. Last night we had yet another new dish, this one from Joanne Weir's From Tapas to Meze. It is Savory Chicken Leek and Feta Pie with Mountain Herbs. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? With a salad it sounds like a perfect dinner. I can tell you that it smells and tastes divine with parsley, dill and mint mixed with chicken, sautéed leeks, green onions, feta and Parmesan cheese. You could make it with phyllo as well.

The only other thing you really need to know about them is they always need to be cleaned. Lots of people like to cut them up and soak them in water to remove the grit between the leaves. I like to cut them length-wise and hold them under running water separating the outer leaves where most of the dirt hides.

Leek and Potato Soup is a well known favorite, vichyssoise, served cold but I like it hot; a good thing for a cold winter night.

Go to our website for Swank Recipes and until next time, Cheers! Stay warm.

Garlic in Everything

2007-02-16T13:14:00.000-05:00

Having received a local magazine that had recipes from local restaurants, I saw a recipe for garlic soup from Restaurant Starlu in Durham. I have eaten there and the food is quite good and the recipe was really different than the one I have made before and that is on the website. I (kind of) tried this new recipe and liked it very much too. If you haven't had garlic soup before, it is really very subtle and delicious; very much like French onion soup.

I used a lot more garlic than the original recipe called for and made several other revisions as well. I used a mess of garlic, already peeled, about a pound. I them in an oven proof container and added between 1/4 and 1/2 cup olive oil. I covered the container and baked them for about an hour at 325. Then I drained off the oil, reserving it to use to sauté croûtons to serve with the soup. Add about 4 cups chicken stock and simmer about 30 minutes until the garlic is really starting to fall apart. Puree with an immersion blender and season with salt and pepper. Top with halved grape tomatoes, sliced avocado, the croûtons and squeeze in a dash of lime. You're in for a treat.

We've been on a roll, actually. I haven't eaten rabbit in years, mainly because it isn't widely available but I saw a recipe in Michael Chiarello’s The Tra Vigne Cookbook for Braised Rabbit with Winter Root Vegetables (and garlic) and gave it a try with risotto and braised leeks. Yummy. Have you had braised leeks? They are very easy and a delicious side. The recipe is already on the website.

Then last night we tried the recipe for the salmon roulade from Mustards Grill Cookbook by Cindy Pawlcyn. Beautiful and really not difficult, just a bit time consuming. It is stuffed with parsley and (you guessed it) garlic. We served it with the Kalamata Olive, Orange and Celery Relish, roasted potatoes and green beans.

Eating well in Carolina!

Note: No Entree Vous update yet. I'm still working on finding the right place!

Cheers!

Chicken with Preserved Lemon and Olives

2007-02-11T11:29:00.000-05:00

We've been on the road most of the week, but unlike most people who travel and eat out, I usually cook where ever I go. This week, I made meat balls for both spagetti and meatballs and Italian wedding soup. The recipe for the wedding soup is on the website at Swank Recipes.

For Weekend Herb Blogging this week hosted this week by the creator, Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen, my ingredient is preserved lemons. I also have a recipe for that on the website. They are beautiful and easy to make and an indespensible addition to many Moroccan recipes. They have a silken texture and an indespensible flavor. If you haven't made them or used them before, you actually eat the skin and not the pulp.

My recipe this week is:

Chicken with Preserved Lemon and Olives

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
1 onion
chopped 6 garlic cloves, smashed
1 tea cinnamon
salt and pepper
16 olives
1 1/2 whole preserved lemon, peeled and sliced

Cover the chicken with water and add onion, garlic, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Pressure cook for 30 minutes. (alternatively you can simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours). Cool and remove top of pressure cooker and continue cooking to reduce the liquid by about 1/3. Add olives and cook 15 minutes. Add lemon and serve with Cous Cous.

Serves 4-6.

Entrée Vous Update. I have been shopping for real estate and have narrowed it down and hope to make a decision this week. As soon as I know where it will be, you'll be the first to know.

Cheers,

Pookah

Spicy Lentil Soup

2007-02-04T14:29:00.001-05:00

We are having a real cold spell, so are back in soup mode. We made a wonderful lentil soup from the Mustard's cookbook, using turnips instead of beets, because that's what's in the garden and We didn't have to go to the store. The recipe uses a great combination of spices: black pepper, black mustard seeds, coriander seeds, and turmeric to make a beautifully colored soup using red lentils.

Spicy Lentil Soup

Mainly from Mustard's Grill by Cindy Pawlcyn but this is my modified version, as always. If you want the original, buy the cookbook. It is well worth it.

Spice Mix:
1 T black peppercorns
1 T black mustard seed
2 T coriander seeds
2 T ground turmeric

Soup:
2 dried chipotle pepper
3 T extra virgin olive oil
8 cl garlic garlic, minced
1 c onions, minced
1 c carrots, minced
4 med turnips, minced
1 c dry white wine
8-10 c chicken stock
1/2 lb orange lentils
4 medium Yukon gold potatoes, minced
2 tea salt
2 T champagne vinegar
3 T cilantro minced

To make spice mix, combine peppercorns, mustard and coriander seeds in a dry skillet. Toast over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes, until seeds begin to pop. Let cool then grind in a spice grinder and mix with the turmeric. Use 1 T of mix for soup, reserving the remainder.

To make soup, preheat oven to 350. Place chilies on baking sheet and toast 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Transfer chilies to a bowl of warm water for 10-15 minutes, until soft. Heat oil in a large pot until hot, add garlic, onions and chilies and cook until soft, about 3 or 4 minutes. Add 1 T spice mix, carrots and turnips and cook about 5 minutes. Add wine, cook 1 minute, then add broth. Add lentils, potatoes and ginger. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, adding more broth if it gets too thick. Season with salt and vinegar and serve with coriander.

We served it with whole wheat tortillas and it was great.

We are submitting it to Weekend Herb Blogging hosted this week by Ulrick at Küchenlatein. Please go check out her round up on Monday. They are always full of great food information.

Cheers!

Where have I been?

2007-02-04T14:22:00.000-05:00

I haven't been hiding or cooking, much, it seems. We came back from the Caribbean and got sick and into our soup mode. Lots of activity going on with a transfer of duties with the Orchid Society and looking for real estate for Entree Vous. We headed up to Maryland in an attempt to help out my sister-in-law, who is recovering from major surgery when my father-in-law passed away suddenly and we changed course and moved in another direction. We spent most of the week in Norfolk. Yes, I did cook some but we primarily subsisted on the generosity of friends, to whom we are most thankful.

A quick tribute to Jesse, my father-in-law. He was 90 when he died and lively until the end. He was married to my mother-in-law, Hazel, his wife of 61 years. Born in North Carolina he lived most of his life in Norfolk. He was into cars and antique car restoration, painting and art collecting as well as building stuff, like tables and arbors. He recently sold a beautiful 1961 corvette that my husband learned to drive in. He still drove an Excalibur and loved the attention that it brought. He was very generous and funny. He loved to laugh as much as anyone I have ever known and I loved to call and tell him jokes.

A gourmet he wasn't. My husband commented that he never saw him eat anything green. I actually think he ate green beans and maybe butter beans, but that's about it. His favorite restaurant of all was Dumars originally a drive in where the girls would deliver your orders on roller skates. They still do a regular Friday or Saturday night thing where only antique cars are allowed into the parking lot.

He was a real meat and potatoes guy. He loved fast food (no smarty comments, please: he lived to be 90 and was still driving.) He loved McD's and Hardees: hamburgers, french fries, cinnamon rolls, and Carolina Barbeque and coke. The few times we ate at sit down restaurants, I think he always ordered steak and a baked potato.

He is already really missed.

If you're in Tidewater, go to Dumars and have a hamburger or Barbeque and a coke for Jesse.

I'm trying to think of a recipe he liked. Mashed potatoes. Cook potatoes until done. Drain. Add butter and buttermilk and mash until you get the desired texture. We like them thick and chunky. Add salt and pepper to taste. He liked pizza too. I'll publish that some other time.

Check out our recipes at Swank Recipes

Cheers!

Entrée Vous

2007-01-14T13:58:00.000-05:00

I can finally tell everyone my news!

I have acquired a franchise in the meal preparation business. It is called Entrée Vous. It is a wonderful operation started in Lexington, KY by a great chef and caterer, Harriet Dupree, a Cordon Blue trained chef with years of food experience.

Ever since I left the telecom world and started a small catering business, I have been looking at doing something different. More regular, definitely with people and food, but with the ups and downs of a catering business (meaning long hours and lots of temporary staffing, etc.) where I could continue to use my love of cooking and entertaining coupled with my marketing and sales experience. This new business exactly what I was looking for and is very exciting. I have been researching it for about nine months. What I initially was most worried about was the quality of the
food, but I can assure you that the food is fantastic! Unbelievable! Better than anything in the market. I guarantee that if you try this, you will love it, that is, if you aprreciate really good food. No one in the market has anything f this caliber; extremely high quality delicious food, expertly sauced and you get to smell it cooking in your own home! I will finally have my own commercial kitchen and be able to help our guests put wonderful food on their tables for their families at a reasonable price. You can't beat it for value, quality and time savings! For our existing clients, you have no need to worry, we will still do a few catering events on a selective basis.

Please check it out the website at Entrée Vous link. Look at the menus. They are terrific. If you go to "news" you'll see where I am announced (Peggy Bloodworth for those of you who know me by Pookah, what my friends call me). I am searching for real estate, and will let you know once we know where we'll be located; so if you live near-by, keep your eyes and ears open for our opening. If there is a Entree Vous near you, try it! It is Gourmet take-out like you never dreamed of. The flavors of the entrées are unparalleled with an ever changing repertoire of menus and recipes so your dinner at home is as good as eating at a high quality restaurant without the time, expense, or tipping!

I can't wait to open and for you to try it, but in the meantime, I have to go thought the process of a build-out! I'll keep the blog and my regular homepage going too, but Entrée Vous, here I come!

In the meatime, check out our recipes at Swank Recipes and if you need a catered event, give us a call!

Cheers,

P

December Wedding

2007-01-11T12:48:00.000-05:00

The last wedding of the year was for a beautiful couple Lydia and Jamal, held in Raleigh. The wedding and reception were in separate locations, both in Raleigh. The reception was at 5:00 PM.

Appetizers were served as the guests arrived along with an open bar, prior to the wedding parties arrival. Once a brief reception was held, then dinner.

The menu:

Appetizer Menu

Homemade Breads
Cranberry Walnut
Pear Macadamia Nut
Mango Pecan
Banana Nut Chocolate Chip

with Homemade Jellies
Blackberry, Grape and Fig Preserves
& Cinnamon Homey Butter

Baked Brie with Pecans, Caramel Sauce & Crackers

Mini Egg Rolls with Srirachi Hot Sauce, Teriyaki and Plum Sauce

Pita and crackers with
Hummus
Mixed Olive Tapenade
Smoked Salmon Dip

Sugared Spiced Almonds

Buffet

Pecan Encrusted Salmon with Parsley Butter Sauce

Sesame Braised Pork Tenderloin Stuffed with Dried Fruit (cherries and apricots)

Warm Applesauce

Sweet Potato Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce and Sage

Potato Medallions in Crème

Green Beans with toasted almonds

Foccaccia, Parker House Rolls Pesto Potato Rolls
with Parsley Honey Butter
and Basil Lemon Butter

Caesar Salad

We think it was very successful. The flowers were beautiful, the food delicious and everyone seemed to be enjoying the party! What else could you want but Happily Ever After?

Check out our recipes at Swank Recipes. The Stuffed Pork is the recipe of the week this week, but you can also find it under entrees.

Until next time, Cheers!

Pookah

Rum, Sun, Recovery

2007-01-07T18:13:00.000-05:00

What's been cooking in Carolina, you ask? Or is your question is where have we been and what have we been doing?

Well, last time I blogged I did say we were headed off for the holidays and probably would be unable to blog until the new year. Little did I know.....

We went to the Punta Cana, Domincan Republic for 8 days. The weather was near perfect with 80-85°F days and 69-70°F nights. The beaches, well, let's just say we walked between 6 and 8 miles every day and never ran out of perfectly white sandy beaches.

We mainly just did the beach thing, reading and working puzzles. We did our first parasailing which was great (although the trip out there was a bit terrifying). We took a trip through the rice fields and banana plantations to a cacao and coffee planatation. Tourism is 22% of the GNP, with farming still providing the majority with beef (Wendy's and Burger King), sugar (Dominos and rum), bananas, coffee (the 3rd ranked in the world)

the first time we've seen coffee growing

and cocao (Hershey's) still huge. Cocao. We actually saw our first real cocao growing was at the butterfly house in Durham a few weeks before, but seeing them grow among the bananas and coffee was incredible.

We also went to a small farm where three families live off the land on 130 acres. What was amazing for us foodies, is that although there was a small stove on the back porch, the main cook who was turning 85 on Christmas eve, was cooking the families lunch the old fashioned way. The picture is actually the other outdoor kitchen with lunch underway.

It is third world. The people are friendly and beautiful and the Domincan Restaurant was our favorite. Really good garlic shrimp and fresh fish, beans and rice, and a great dessert with coconut, sweetened condensed milk and brown sugar. However, it was our first all inclusive resort and although it was nice not having to search out food and drink (which was good, although endless rum is not good for the waistline), we definitely will not do it again. We love small Inns, getting out to meet the people, really eating local and seeing the country side and the life vs the herding thing.

We came back with only a few days to get ready for catering a wedding on the 30th for more than 100. (We'll blog that next). My sweet husband knew he was getting a bug before we got back and basically went to bed for the next week. I fought it off until after the wedding and have been in bed until yesterday. We are still recovering. So since the return, except the wedding which we'll will post separately, our diet has consisted of soup. Really. Chicken noodle soup, chicken soup, hot and sour soup, chicken gumbo, chili, and tonight, French onion soup. That's all. Except the few days around New Years when we had family here and they cooked meat and the like. Oh, and we did stick by our southern New Year's traditions and had seafood (crab cakes, salmon & smoked salmon, yes we did smoke it), black eyed peas and collard greens, so we know the rest of the year will be prosperous!

We hope your holidays were bright and your New Years a good one. Even though we gained a few pounds in the Caribbean (pina coladas, rum punch, you get the pciture?), we lost more than that with the sickness, so dieting in not as severe as normal! Yea!

Check out our recipes and website at swank recipes. We'll add a recipe this week and be back soon,

Hope to check in with you all and hope to hear from you too!

Pookah

Weekend Herb Blogging Week

2006-12-07T21:22:00.000-05:00

It is week #62 of Weekend Herb Blogging and it is with great pleasure that I am hosting for the first time. I was a bit worried, not only because my internet connection is so slow, but the time and effort required, but I have to tell you, it IS fun. You really read everyone's blog and see the efforts, whereas when you scan the weekend when you are a reader, not a host, you miss things. So I highly recommend it although I will tell you that it takes time. But I really believe that I enjoy it more than just reading because I really read them all! So without further adieu, here's the recap in order of receipt!

The first post I received was from the now infamous and thoroughly dedicated founder of Weekend Herb Blogging Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen from with her post of a wonderful Black Bean and Rice Soup with Lime and Cilantro from Utah! It looks yummy. I think she is hooked on cilantro, don't you? But then again, it won the favorite herb competition so who isn't? To be sure, the lime is the secret ingredient!

Next we have Dhivya Ravi at Thats Y Food with Lima Bean Sambar. It calls for a pressure cooker (I didn't know anyone was left on the planet who regularly used one other than me and my family) but it also uses one of my favorite vegetables in the whole world Butter Beans (or Lima Beans as in here) so this recipe is a must try on my list. Who would have thought of this novel idea?

The next entry is Rinku at Cooking with Rinku in Westchester who uses yet another of my favorites, Haas Avacados and makes a wonderful guacamole that looks good enough to eat. I made some earlier this week and this made me sorry I sent it home with friends! Try out the chunky Guacamole . It'll go with lots of things.

Becky of Key Lime and Coconut is into slow cookin' with her new crock pot and tries out a wonderful Slow Cooked Chicken Chowder with dill. It looks like a perfect winter food for the cold MA area. It's been cold here, so I know this yummy soup warmed up things a bit.

Angie in Singapore (wow!) at My Kitchen My Laboratory made an incredible looking dessert with her ingredient this week, almonds, which happen to be my husbands favorite snack food. You can see this delectible dessert at Friands with Chocolate Sauce and Sugared Blueberries . Friands is a new word to me, which is amazing since I thought I had read more than 1000 cookbooks. If it's new to you too, go here to find out more. You won't be sorry!

My neighbor Sue (aka Coffeepot) from my home state of Virginia at Coffee and Cornbread has a wonderful looking Cranberry Cole Slaw that looks really light and refreshing and everyone knows how good cranberries are for you and cranberries are in season! Pretty colors.

Ulrike from Kronshagen, Germany whose blog is Küchenlatein
(another wow! isn't it amazing how we connect all over the world? All because of a love of cooking and eating) has a gorgeous picture of a
Curried Sweet Potato Soup that looks like another perfect winter food. Gorgeous! Someone brought me sweet potatoes early this week. Hmmmmm!

Kate at Thyme for Cooking, The Blog, somewhere in France makes Rack of Lamb, With a Mustard Herb Crust served with Southwest Lentils It looks devine for a rosemary and lamb lover like I and I am happy to say we're having lamb Sunday evening at a neighbors, so I'll get my lamb fix instead of just drooling over hers!

Sher at What Did You Eat has been eating high on the hog (I mean Chicken) with Rosemary And Orange-Glazed Chicken With Sweet Potatoes . You should really check it out. She is an amazing photographer and the food is half as good as the picture, it probably got gobbled up really fast. It looks really good!

Cate from Sweetnicks made another cold weather dish, Short Ribs with Chinese Flavor using her crock pot too. That's the second one this weekend. It must be crock pot kind of cold weather food. I haven't had short ribs in ages, so let's add it to the list!

Anna from Morsel and Musings in Australia posts not one but two Maltese recipes: Chickpea & Lima Bean Salad and Stuffat Tal-Qaqocc (Artichoke Stew) Both dishes look really, really good and you pick up some interesting information on Malta as well. Check it out!

Anh was next from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia with A Food Lovers Journey (those guys must be in the same time zone because they submitted entries back to back!) features oranges this week, my favorite color of the moment with Date & Almond Cake With Orange Syrup . It's beautiful photography too, so you sweet eaters out this is a must! Unbelieveable.

Ruth from Once upon a Feast in Toronto is next in line with Roasted Vegetable Caponata - lots of eggplant, fennel and herb stars: parsley and basil. Eggplant is my husbands favorite veggie so this looks doable! This blog made me laugh, because she thinks like I do: The holidays are here, everyone is partying and we need to diet! But this is too good to be diet food. Try it!

Lakshmi from Boston has a great blog, Flavors of Indian Rasoi which, when this is over, I must investigate more. I have been cooking Indian food of late and would love to try the recipe for Toor Dal with Spinach Fry . I love dal and spinach and everything else in this recipe so I know it's great! I would need to make a special trip to the Indian grocer to get the curry leaves, though. I think I need to figure out if I can grow them!

Christine from Christine Cooks in Trinidad, California is after my heart. She makes a Low-Fat Low-Sugar Persimmon Rice Pudding . I am all about low fat and low sugar (and so should you be!) and persimmons grow wild in our woods AND I love rice pudding (okay, I know I love a lot of food, but that's why I have a food blog and like reading yours). I think this is a creative, original recipe. I haven't had rice pudding in years, it somehow fell off the radar, but this reminds me of how good it is!

Haalo is our third Australian, from Melbourne who has a great blog, Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once. She does an incredible job of informing those of us whose temperatures have dipped into the teens (F) this week, that it is SUMMER there, by making a wonderful looking Watermelon and Lemon Verbena Sorbet with lots of information about her herb, Lemon Verbena. For those of you who do not garden, it is a warm weather annual which would be dead here now, but we can dream of summer through her blog.

Anna from Anna's Cool Finds in Mill Valley, California has an ingredient that I have heard of but never tried (imagine that, salsify that she makes into Sesame Salsify . It looks like a ugly root but the dish turns out beautifully. She says it tastes like a cross between asparagus and artichokes. Doesn't that sound yummy? Check out her pictures and read the whole menu. I want to eat dinner at her house!

Yet another blogger from half way around the world, Nandita from Mumbai, India with the wonderful blog, Saffron Trail choses red pumpkin as the ingredient of the week and makes a delicious looking Spicy Pumpkin Coffee Cake . I made pumpkin muffins for Thanksgiving breakfast and this looks similar but spicier. Great photos too and an interesting blog.

Virginie, from Absolutely Green in Nantes, France made an unusual Spiced Beetroot Cake . Who would have thought of using beetroots in a cake; but if you think about it, they are very sweet and when you see the picture, the cake has a gorgeous pink marbling effect. I love beets too! It is in French but you can click at the top for the Google English translation.

Gattina in New Jersey posted an incredibly delicious looking East and Crunchy Indian Style Chicken in Potato Shells that looks any thing but easy. They are gorgeous and the photography is beautiful. How is it so many food bloogers can take such good pictures? It makes me feel like the amateur that I am! Be sure to go look at it. You'll want to reach in there and grab one of them!

Two New Jersey posts coming in back-to-back.

The next one is from Sandeepa who has a lovely blog called Bong Mom's Cookbook and her submission is for Kancha Aamer Ambol ar Chaatni or Green Mango Chutney. Please go visit, where you will learn about chutney from the Bengali region. I am a huge fan of every chutney I have ever tried and/or made, which is quite a few. I traveled the world in a previous life with an Indian colleague and we ate in Indian restaurants from Ottawa to London to Asia. Give this Mango one a try, like I will!

Funny, I've been attempting to keep up with this as it comes it, to not be overwhelmed and swamped, especially since I am going to dinner down the road. Several back, I mentioned that I had made my first pumpkin muffins and what do you know, in comes a Roasted Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins from Surfindaave in Southern California at The Serendipitous Chef. Once again I am overwhelmed by the pictures and his muffins look very, very good, better than mine! He gives good information too. Really a very nice, artistic blog, if I do say so.

And last (not the last to enter but saving the best for last ha!) but not least is my own entry. My ingredient: Garlic, Cooked in Tapas and Crepes! For recipes, be sure to visit my home website at
Swank Recipes and most of all have a safe and happy holiday. We're off to the Carribbean so this could be the last post of the year! Thanks to everyone who participated!

Cheers!
Pookah

Garlic

2006-12-07T19:06:00.000-05:00

What's cooking in Carolina this week?

We've had guests for a few days, our really, really good friends from Winston Salem. Monday night we had coconut shrimp with a lime dressing. .

Tuesday night we had tapas:

Sesame Crackers with Seared Tuna and Wasabe Cream

Lentil Salad with Red Peppers, Feta and Mint

Toasted Bread topped with White Beans and Bitter Greens

Buttery Sauted Cabbage with Chorizo

Potato Tortilla

Chocolate Hazelnut Fondue with Strawberries and Pineapple

For breakfast we made crepes: Sauted chorizo with onion, garlic, pepper, cilantro, eggs and cheese topped with guacamole and fresh strawberry and pineapple topped with powdered sugar and some of the left over chocolate fondue. Yummy!

Was there an ingredient that got used in multiple dishes? You betcha! Garlic! Garlic was in the Lentil Salad, the white beans, the bitter greens, the cabbage with chorizo and the breakfast crepe! Who cares about garlic breath as long as everyone's eating!

I am submitting this for this weekend's Weekend Herb Blogging hosted here! Come back on Monday for the roundup and check out our recipes atSwank Recipes

See ya after the round-up! Wish me luck!

Cheers!

Announcement

2006-12-07T15:48:00.000-05:00

This is my first time hosting Weekend Herb Blogging so have your enties to me at swankcat at swankcatering dot com by midafternoon on Sunday (Utah time) to be included in the Recap for that week. Send a bunch of them to make sure I get really challenged at connect speeds of 28.8! If you haven't participated before , see the rules at the creator, Kalyn's site
THE RULES If you're browsing for recipes, check out our catering website. Swank Recipes

After Turkey

2006-12-03T08:18:00.000-05:00

We've been very thankful! Thankful it's all over! Ha!

Well to be honest, it nice and short and you get to visit and it's kind of fun. We try to squeeze both families in one weekend. This year we went to Virginia to my parents the earlier part of the week. We had turkey and regular ham and Smithfield Country ham (which to this writer/cook/eater is undisputable the best ham in the world), green beans, collard greens, butter beans, boiled potatoes, scalloped potatoes, dressing, baked apples and apple turnovers. That's all I can remember. Oh, and Parker House rolls.

Then we came back to Carolina and took in the in-laws, from Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chevy Chase MD. We made Venison Bourginon for dinner on Friday night with hand made pasta, bread and a salad, neglecting to tell anyone it was venison, to see if anyone caught it. No one did.

We cooked Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday, after a breakfast of pumpkin muffins (new recipe) and banana walnut chocolate chip bread we started on lunch. We had a big turkey, cornbread dressing, gravy, rice, butter beans, pick-eyed purple hull peas, cranberry apple relish (recipe is one the website and it is a must try recipe of Diane's), Parker House Rolls, a salad, a French Apple tart (new recipe)
and a crust less sweet potato pie.

I sent all of the leftovers home with people except the turkey which was still simmering away when the last of them left on Monday, after we went to see the big Monet exhibit at NC Museum of Art.

We have had turkey hash, turkey tetraziti (ha, a new coined name for turkey tetrazini over ziti) and turkey pot pie. I am making Turkey noodle soup for tomorrow, where I am helping a friend at the Boylan Heights Art walk and we'll be outside all afternoon and it's supposed to be a bit nippy. By the way, check out Tina's website. Motley Critters She makes wonderful whimsical animals. If you are an animal lover, you will love her stuff. She'll do commission work as well and will ship it to you!

We were out of town one day and we had pizza another (yes, made from scratch). And we're finally starting to get greens from the garden: spinach, kale, turnips, pak choy, etc. I can make a me

Dessert Party

2006-11-19T09:02:00.000-05:00

I promised I would show you pictures of the dessert party we did for 250. Actually, it is taking a lot of liberty to say WE did. Marne, our pastry chef made 99% of the food. I was, for once, the assitant chef and helped because I like to help and I get to learn some new things too, like making meringue mushrooms. As you can see, Marne makes beautful cakes and desserts, so if you need some, give us a call! Diane, my partner did all of the flowers and set up. She makes beautiful flower arrangements.
Withour further ado:

The Menu:

Carrot Cake

Black Magic Chocolate Cake with Meringue Mushrooms

Three tiered Packages Cake (Vanilla with Almond buttercream, Coconut with Orange Buttercream, Lemon with Raspberry Buttercream)

Spiced candied pecans
Chocolate Fudge (plain and with walnuts)
Truffles
Rum balls

Brownies with marshmallows and fudge
Lemon Bars
Raspberry delights
Lemon cheese pressed cookies
Peanut Butter Fingers

Oatmeal Spice cookies
Molasses Crinkles
Brazilian Coffee cookies
Viennese Shortbreads
White Chocolate/Macadamia Nut Bars
Mint Meltaways

Savories

Pepperoni Biscotti
Mini quiches
Cheese Straws
Curried and Italian almonds
Bacon/Ranch pinwheels
Cheese puffs

Looks good enough to eat! Ha!

Check out recipes on our website at Swank Recipes or give us a call if you live in the area and want us to cater a party for you or give in-home cooking lessons that are better than you can go to a place for!

Cheers!

Ginger

2006-11-18T18:47:00.000-05:00

We discovered how easy it was to grow ginger on a whim. We bought a big hunk at the grocery store our first year and stuck in in some dirt and put it in the hot bed with the grape seedlings in March. After the risk of frost, we moved it to the garden and mulched it. We never touched it until the first frost in the fall and then we dig it. It is wonderful fresh; like a new potato with a skin so thin you can scratch it off with your finger. Now we have enough to last until the next season. From about 10 plants in a typical year, you get about 30 pounds of ginger. This year was atypical so we only got about half that. It is truely easier to care for than anything else in the garden. If you haven't tried it, you will find it amazing. Ususally when we pull it, you can see the flower inforenceses forming, but it has never flowered. Even with starting indoors, the season is not long enough. We have grown it every year for more than 15 years and our friends look forward to the frost when we dig it all.

From The New Food Lover's Companion by Sharon Tyler Herbst:

ginger; gingerroot A plant from tropical and subtropical regions that’s grown for its gnarled lumpy root. Most ginger comes from Jamaica, followed by India, Africa and China. Gingerroot's name comes from the Sanskrit word for "horn root," undoubtedly referring to its knobby appearance. It has a tan skin and a flesh that ranges in color from pale greenish yellow to ivory. The flavor is peppery and slightly sweet, while the aroma is pungent and spicy. This extremely versatile root has long been a mainstay in Asian and Indian cooking and found its way early on into European foods as well. The Chinese, Japanese and East Indians use fresh gingerroot in a variety of forms-grated, ground and slivered-in many savory dishes. Europeans and most Americans {not this one} however, are most likely to use the dried ground form of ginger, usually in baked goods. Fresh ginger is available in two forms - young and mature. Young ginger, sometimes called spring ginger {I would have to call it fall ginger}, has a pale, thin skin that requires no peeling {see, I told you}. It is very tender and has a milder flavor than its mature form. Young ginger can be found in most Asian markets during the springtime. {We have never seen it for sale as tender as the ones we grow, even in the Asian markets}.

The New Food Lover's Companion goes on discussing how to preserve and discusses ground, ginger juice, candied ginger, preserved ginger, pickled ginger {which I make in the years when we really get a lot, not this year, though} and red candied ginger. There are separate definitions for ginger ale and ginger beer. They don't mention ginger tea, and that it very good.

We used it to make egg rolls to go with the hot and sour soup made with fresh wood ear mushrooms and fresh shitakes. We only see the fresh wood ears a few times a year fresh and can't pass them by. I have posted how to make egg rolls before, probably the last time we saw them. This is a current picture, but it looks the same. I guess we are creatures of habit.

Have you tried ginger ice cream? It is so good. If we weren't trying to lose wait......so instead we tried ginger yogurt as a healthy alternative. It's got the creamy hot spicy thing going on.

We also do quick stir fries when we time is limited. It is quick and easy and good too!

This is being submitted to Weekend Herb Blogging hosted this week by Nandita of Saffron Trail. Check it out Monday after she posts the roundup! Also, check out our website if you want to find more recipes.

Both the egg rolls and fresh hot and sour soup are listed.
Swank Recipes Cheers!

An Apple a Day...

2006-11-09T13:01:00.000-05:00

We have a few warm days, up to the mid 70s F for three days in a row. It would be nice for hiking; maybe we'll get some in. We are using it to spray Orchids for mites and aphids, taking them all outside. It will take us at least 2 days. In the meantime I am making applesauce. My Mom goes to the Virginia mountain every year and buys bushels of apples. I 'ordered' some from her, asking for a mixed bushel or two of good crisp apples. I am catering a wedding at the end of December and one of the items ordered was warm apple sauce so I am canning it now for later consumption. It's really easy, especially since I have this wonderful apparatus called a Squeezo Strainer. My sister in SC bought it for me at the Pickens Flea Market a few years back. It was in the original box and cost $5 or $10, I don't remember. A side note on the Pickens Flea Market. It is amazing, more like a real farmer's market. It is Wednesday mornings from 4:00 AM until 11:00 AM. It covers acres and is real farmers. She just got me some beautiful herbs there. $2 for the big pots and $1 for the small ones.

Back to the applesauce: All you need to do is quarter the apples.

I steam them in a big steamer meant for crabs, until they are soft. Put them in the strainer and the skin, seeds and cores come out of one side and the sauce comes out the other.

I put the sauce back on the heat and add a bit of honey, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Move to sterilized jars and simmer in a hot water bath for 30-45 minutes and voila. Now we have really good apple sauce for the rest of the year. If you make it and serve it warm, it's one of those warm, comfort, fall foods you could eat at any meal.

One other nifty idea that came from a great chef who happens to be in the Army is to stuff a pork tenderloin with a few of your favorite dried fruits (I like cranberries or cherries with pear) that have been bloomed in green tea and minced. Braise the stuffed meat in sesame oil, then coat in sesame seed (I like to mix white and black) and finish in the oven. Serve with homemade apple sauce that is flavored with a hint of soy sauce. It is divine warm, room temperature or cool.

I also made an apple crostata. We didn't eat much of it though. We are watching what we eat with the holidays coming up and that feeling we get like we need to eat to fatten up for the long winter ahead, like the bears. That doesn't mean we won't eat good stuff; just less fatty. We also dry some. A low fat way to eat them is to peel them and cut them in pieces, put on a plate, dapple with apple pie spices, cover with plastic wrap and zap until soft.

This is my submission to Weekend Herb Blogging hosted this week by Meeta of What's For Lunch Honey?. Check it out!

In the meantime, Check out our website for recipes. Swank Recipes
Cheers!

P

Pooped Pookah Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers..

2006-11-07T19:38:00.000-05:00

Last week we had the mad scramble to get everything in before our first hard frost, which was Friday night. We had piles of peppers and eggplants as well as ginger, basil, grapes, and I also picked some tarragon which I never know about. Some years it lives and some years it doesn't. Maybe it is the hardness of the winter. Note: I'll do a separate post on the ginger when I get a chance.

I made pickled hot peppers, stuffed peppers Thai style, pickled banana peppers (and onions while I was at it). I used peppers in other dished, like Chinese Chicken Salad,
and still have some left for rellanos and ropa vieja (from Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarella on the Food Netwoek. When I saw the amount of peppers going in the dish, I knew I what was next for peppers). That's for tonight.

We processed enough muscadines to make jelly and they are awaiting their finishing time in the refrigerator. That means we have heated them and strained them so we only have juice and only need to finish the jelly.

The recipe for the Pickled Banana Peppers is not on our website but I'll try to put it up in a few weeks. It is very good on sandwiches. With Thanksgiving coming up, there is an immediate use for them. We like them on sautéed greens as well, like collards, kale or turnips.

I made a very low fat version of Chicken in Tarragon Crème, probably the same day as Katie at Thyme for Cooking, the Blog . She posted her recipe for last week's Weekend Herb Blogging while I was saving mine for another week. Instead, I'll post it here,
outside of the weekend blog and put it on our website as the recipe of the week. Check it out at Swank Recipes I checked the date of when I made it (from the camera) and it was November 4th and she posted hers on November 5th. The recipes are similar but enough different that I think it's worth the review. Mine cooks quicker and is lower fat. Hers more flavorful and autentic. We actually have a lot in comon, so I'm sure we would enjoy each others, both equally delicious in its own right, I'm sure.

I also made tarragon vinegar.

What's really strange about that is that Sweetnicks Blog last week also posted chicken picatta the same time I did. That means in one week I cooked the same thing as 2 other great food bloggers on the same thread and there aren't THAT many of us. Interesting. Great blogger that cook think alike?

Interesting to see what you think!

Cheers! P

ps: Can you tell I missed a week? Too busy cooking to blog.

Capers

2006-10-28T11:48:00.001-04:00

Last weekend, I tried submitting this for Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Fiber of 28 Cooks but screwed up by submitting to the wrong address so I am trying again to the home of WHB hosted by the great leader Kalyn of Kalyns Kitchen for the new week. We'll see if I do better and learn some lessons from Kalyn as well!

For this weekend's Weekend Herb Blogging, well last weeks, I mean, I'm all about capers.

According to The New Food Lover's Companion by Sharon Tyler Herbst:

caper [KAY-per] The flower bud of a bush native to the Mediterranean and parts of Asia. The small buds are picked, sun-dried and then pickled in a vinegar BRINE. Capers range in size from the petite nonpareil variety from southern France (considered the finest), to those from Italy, which can be as large as the tip of your little finger. There are also the Spanish-imported stemmed caperberries that
are about the size of a cocktail olive. Capers are generally packed in brine but can also be found salted and sold in bulk. Capers should be rinsed before using to remove excess salt. The pungent flavor of capers lends piquancy to many sauces and condiments; they're also used as a garnish for meat and vegetable dishes.

Two of my favorite ways of using them are first in olive tapenade. My recipe is on the website. Swank Recipes I sometimes make it finely ground with black olives only, but lately, I have been mixing good Greek olives with good green olives as well as Manzanella's stuffed with pimentos and grinding them coarse to get a unique flavor with good color and serving them as a side with tuna and pita points. Very good.

My other favorite way to cook them is with Chicken Piccata. This is my recipe:

Chicken Piccata
Serves 4

1 large lemon

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (5 to 6 ounces each), tenderloins removed and reserved for another use, fat trimmed, pounded.

Salt and ground black pepper

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 small shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons) and 1 small clove garlic, (about 1 teaspoon)

1/4 cup white wine

1 cup homemade chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons drained small capers

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

Halve one lemon. Juice the whole lemon to obtain 1/4 cup juice; reserve.

Sprinkle both sides of the cutlets generously with salt and pepper. Measure the flour into a shallow baking dish or pie plate. Working with one cutlet at a time, coat with the flour and shake to remove the excess.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a heavy-bottomed 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.
Lay half of the chicken cutlets in the skillet. Sauté the cutlets until lightly browned on the first side, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the cutlets and cook until the second side is lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes longer. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the cutlets to the plate. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the now-empty skillet and heat. Add the remaining chicken cutlets and repeat.

Add the shallot to the now-empty skillet and return the skillet to medium heat. Sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds for shallot then add garlic for about 10 seconds. Add the wine then add the stock, increase the heat to high, and scrape the pan bottom with a wooden spoon or spatula to loosen the browned bits. Simmer until the liquid reduces, about 4 minutes. Add the lemon juice and capers and simmer until the sauce reduces again, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and swirl in the butter until the butter melts and thickens the sauce. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve immediately. An extra lemon can be sliced and added to the pan with the wine and broth.

We're getting behind and have lots of cooking to do. Enjoy the rest of the beautiful weekend! Cheers

Weekend at the Beach

2006-10-26T09:22:00.000-04:00

I am a bit behind in my blog updating. We took a mini vacation and met a few (18 in total) members of my family in Wrightsville Beach, NC where my brother and his wife were celebrating their 50th Birthday. They rented a house for us all to stay. It was fun. Happy Birthday to Van, Paula and Cindy. I won't tell whether we are older or younger.

Of course you want to know the menu:

For Friday night we had a Mediterranean feat of sort, mainly Greek. We had Souvlaki, Spanikopita, Pita, Hummus, Babaganoush, Tzatziki, olive tapenade, dolmas and a Greek salad, all of which was made in advance, except the Souvlaki which was marinated in advance but cooked on site, the spanikopita was assembled and cooked on site and the salad.

For breakfast Saturday AM we had toast, jelly, bacon and eggs, OJ, coffee and bloody Mary's and Mimosas. For lunch crab and corn chowder, chicken noodle soup, country ham sandwiches, Texas Tortellini, and potato salad, with all but the sandwiches made in advance also. Saturday afternoon we went out on their boat and on the way back in stopped at a water front seafood market and bought dinner.

What we ended up with: crab cakes cooked two ways in an Iron Chef like crab competition , grouper cooked 2 ways: a quick pan sear and breaded nuggets, scallops cooked 2 ways, a quick pan sear and bacon wrapped and grilled, barely grilled tuna au poivre, grilled shrimp and steamed snow crab claws (the only seafood not caught fresh that day). For sides we had marinated cole slaw, another Greek-like salad, veggies and the previously mentioned salads. I didn't get pictures but my nephew did and when he send them, I'll add them. Eleven year old Addie made a giant pound cake that was a huge success. Sunday morning was pancakes, maple syrup and butter, sausages (pork, chicken chipotle and chicken with Thai spices), bacon, toast and homemade jellies from my Mom. For lunch we cooked 2 whole beef tenderloins, fresh Parker House Rolls, baked Potatoes with butter, sour cream, chives and bacon and a salad, tomatoes and a veggie platter. Oh, and I forgot the other cake, a spice
cake with chocolate. Not to mention the wine.........

Did I mention that it was in the seventies all weekend with nights dipping in the fifties? There is wonderful three mile circular walk lined with live oaks and of coarse the beach. Who has time to blog?

We are back and we thought we might have a frost and frantically went out and picked everything. Next, you'll see what we got and what we are doing with it!

If you want to check out recipes, be sure to go to our website at Swank Recipes Until next time, eat well and laugh often, even at the beach!

Muscadine Grapes (The Southern Grape)

2006-10-14T17:32:00.000-04:00

Grapes! Well, that's what we do here. We have a small research vineyard tucked away in the hardwood forest of northern Orange county, NC. My husband has been breeding grapes since 1977 when he started on his masters at NCSU. He is privately funded. He has preserved and built upon the genetic foundation set in place by his predecessors as part of a century long quest in North Carolina to breed improved varieties of the native muscadine grape, Vitis rotundifolia Michx. With the progress made thus far, he is optimistic that new, multi-purpose cultivars will soon emerge that retain the heady floral aroma and flavor of the muscadine, yet bear texturally improved, wholly edible seedless berries on disease resistant ornamental vines with uniquely pigmented foliage that erupts into a stunning firestorm of fall colors.

We grow a lot of varieties which are maintained as a gene pool. He is making some crosses for European style wine varieties in cooperation with another individual who grows them out but his primary focus is seedless muscadines.

What is a muscadine, you ask?

mus•ca•dine [MUHS-kuh-dihn]
n.
A woody vine (Vitis rotundifolia) of the southeast United States, bearing a musky grape used to make wine. Also called scuppernong by the locals (which is really a variety).

According to Wikipedia: muscadine

Muscadines (Vitis rotundifolia) are a grapevine species native to the present-day southeastern United States that has been extensively cultivated since the 16th Century. They are well adapted to their native warm and humid climate; they need fewer chilling hours than better known varieties and they thrive on summer heat.

Muscadines range from bronze to dark purple to black in color when ripe. Some consider the skins too tough to be edible. To eat the fruit raw, these people bite a small hole in the skin, then suck the thick gelatinous insides into their mouth, taking care to spit out the seeds embedded in it. Though mostly used fresh, muscadines have also been locally used in making home-brewed wine, juice, and jelly.

Although sharing the genus Vitis with the other grapevine species, muscadines belong to a separate subgenus, Muscadinia (the other grapevine species belong to Euvitis), and some have suggested giving it standing as a genus of its own. Some taxonomists have also suggested splitting two additional species off from Vitis rotundifolia: Vitis munsoniana and Vitis popenoei. All have 40 chromosomes, rather than 38, are generally not cross-compatible with other "Vitis" species, and most hybrids between the subgenera are sterile. A few, however, are at least moderately fertile, and have been used in breeding. The cultivar 'Southern Home', released by the University of Florida, contains both muscadine and Euvitis in its background. Unlike most cultivated grapevines, many muscadine cultivars are pistillate, and require a pollenizer to set fruit. A few, however, such as 'Carlos' and 'Noble', are perfect-flowered, and will produce fruit with their own pollen. They may also serve as pollenizers for pistillate cultivars, as well.

Wine
Muscadines have also been used for making commercial fine wines and port wines dating back to the 16th Century in and around St. Augustine, Florida. Today, there are vineyards throughout the Southeast vinting muscadine wines ranging from low to high quality. The typical muscadine wine is quite sweet and is therefore oftentimes considered a dessert wine, although some drier varieties exist. The term scuppernong refers to a large bronze type of muscadine originally grown in North Carolina; it is also used in making wine.

While not one of the most widely marketed varietals produced, the visibility of muscadine wine has benefited from the discovery that it provides even greater antioxidant health benefits than many better-known red wines.

What does all of this mean? Well, we have a lot of muscadine grapes out in the vineyard that grow no where else in the world! We actually do have the first seedless muscadine but it is not a marketable product. While it is productive, it is small, inconsistent in size of the cluster and does not have a dry scar. That means when you pull the grape off the cluster, it does not come off clean. In this case, it comes off with a bit of stem. This makes processing difficult. Still, we made raisins and fruit leather out of it.

We also process Noble, a dark variety that holds its color better than most others into jam and leather. We try a few others each year to see how they hold up.

For those who have never had a muscadine, it can be puzzling just how to eat them. Some people eat the skins. Many consider them too tough. All of them have seeds (except ours) and you can either swallow them or spit them out. Many, mostly non-southerners, raised on the mostly tasteless, though seedless Thompson Seedless grape, consider this offensive. Whatever! It would be a more widely accepted product if the skins were edible to all and it was seedless. There are several programs at universities (FL, Miss, GA) aimed at doing this. We are, to the best of my knowledge, the only privately funded effort to produce seedless muscadines in the US.

What you need to know about muscadines: They are healthy, vigorous and highly aromatic. When cutting the grass between the vineyard rows the incredible aroma fills the air announcing the area of the vineyard where they are planted. They have high yields (very productive) and are very disease resistant. They are sold in the fresh market and processed for wine. Most of the wines are sweetened to mask the bitterness that comes from the seeds and skins. They were also recently found to contain higher antioxidant values than any other fruit. Muscadines also contain ellagic acid, a compound thought to inhibit cancer. For more information, read this:Muscadines and Health facts

You can buy capsules that are derived from the skins/seeds in any health food store. Why you would, we do not know, when you can just eat the grapes or natural products made from them. They are very flavorful, highly aromatic and have a wonderful flavor. And before you know it, you'll be able to eat the whole thing! We are optimistic that within a few years a viable seedless muscadine will be commercially available.

What are we doing with them other than eating them and sharing them? We are making jam and leather to keep the skins in the final product.

If you see them, try them, even if you have to spit. Their flavor is like no other grape and within the next few years, you won't even have to spit!

For recipes for Muscadine Grape Jam check out the the recipes of the week on our website. Swank Recipes. Miscellaneous recipes also has the muscadine fruit leather recipe. It's healthy fruit rollups with no added sugar!

This is being submitted to weekend herb blogging hosted this weekend by Sher of What did you eat? so the whole world will learn about muscadines (well the whole world of wonderful weekend herb bloggers). Cheers!

NC Wine at the State Fair

2006-10-12T12:19:00.000-04:00

Last time I said I would let you know what happened at the competition. So, let's discuss the NC wine. North Carolina has one of the fastest growing wine and vineyard markets in the US. We are now the 10th largest in grape production and 12th largest wine production state in the country and my guess is that we are the fastest growing with 55 bonded wineries as of today. Here is a link to some fast facts: NC Wine facts

There are good and bad things about this growth. First, I think having a local wine industry is a good thing and there will always be a market for good local wine. However, I think that the WORLD wants to be like California and that is a real issue. First, we do not have the soil or climate that they have. We have not had a severe winter (or early frost in the fall or late frost in the spring). We have not had a severe hurricane since the phenomenal growth of the industry (knock on wood). I think it is just a matter of time before some of these loose a lot of crops and go out of business. Everybody grows Chardonnay and Cabernet. It would be nice to have a market centered on something unique to the region. You can not sustain a crop of Zinfandel here. It is unfortunate (I love a big Zin!) but true! So the growers should be growing what grows here well and the researchers should be developing new varieties that grow well here and make good wine! Ha! That's easy for me to say. Hold that thought and we'll come back to it.

Back to the wine tasting. There were 80 wines entered into the amateur competition and 244 wines from 37 wineries entered into the commercial competition. The amateur wines were judged by 6 judges over 1/2 a day and the commercial judges were judged by 9 judges over a day and a half. That's 2 full days of judging, folks!

There are 2 superintendents and several helpers. I am one of the 2 helpers who have been assisting since the competition started seven years ago. It is a lot of work. You have to open all those bottles of wine and get out rented glasses and pour it. It makes a mess. You are on your feet all day long.

However, even though the judges are sitting most of the day they have to taste it all. There were three panels of three judges each which meant each judge tasted at least 81 glasses before the final run-off. It is interesting, because we get to keep up with who is making what and what the wineries are growing and making and what is winning out as the best. It is very informative.

And the winners are....drum roll......

The best of show for the amateur competition was Scott Pearson. He and his wife, Tina Motley Pearson are very dear friends of ours. Scott is an excellent wine maker who makes wine from grapes of vineyards of friends and along with others has grapes shipped in from California. The winner was a Syrah blend. This is the second time Scott has entered a wine into the competition and both times he won Best of Show!Side note: Tina is a potter who has been featured on HGTV. She makes creative whimsical animals. Check out her website: Motley Critters

The Best of Show for the commercial competition was Childress Vineyards Syrah. Childress is one of the newer wineries in NC, owned by NASCAR mogul Richard Childress. His vineyard and winery are north of Charlotte near Lexington, NC. His winemaker is Mark Friszolowski, an award winning winemaker who was previously a wine maker on Long Island. I went to their website http://www.childressvineyards.com/home.asp to look up how to spell his name and learned two things:

I didn't know (imagine that): first, when the wreckage of the Titanic was recovered in 1986, the corks of the still wine bottles had imploded under the ocean pressure, but the majority of the champagne bottles were still intact. Wow! And second, removing a cork requires a pull equivalent of lifting approximately 100 lbs. I know I opened at least 150 bottles of wine over those 2 days. No wonder my hands were red!

If you want to see the entire list of winners, here is the website:
http://www.ncwine.org/awards/awards_06SFwinners.html

As far a grape growing and which varieties to grow, if you go to the website of the winners, you will learn that my husband, Jeff, is one of the few grape breeders in the world. He makes some wine crosses, trying to breed disease resistance into vinifera but his primary research is breeding seedlessness into muscadines. Since my entire house smells like the essense of grapes at this moment, my next post is going to be on grapes. I didn't get pictures at the wine competition, but these will be pictures of grapes and recipes coming up next! ANd you'll learn something about the southern grape too!

Until then, check out our website for recipes Swank Recipes and drink one on us! Try NC Wine! Cheers!

Pasta and Bean Soup (Pasta E Figioli)

2006-10-08T15:17:00.000-04:00

We're going to try to squeeze this into this weekend's Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Ruth at Once Upon A Feast. My herb(s) for the weekend are Rosemary and Sage!

We have had a few cool days which really get us into the cool weather food. We had cooked up a batch of white beans to make a white bean and garlic puree to go with the pork chops made earlier and as usual made extra to do something else with TBD. As is turns out, we decided to make Pasta and Bean soup, something akin to Pasta E fagioli. We saute a bit of onions, add a bit of garlic, rosemary and sage and then add homemade chicken broth and pasta. After the pasta is near done, we add the precooked beans. Let it simmer for at least 15 minutes so that the flavors are absorbed and melded, adding more broth if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with generous spoonfuls of just grated parmesan reggiano and crusty bread! Perfect for a cool day lunchtime meal! It would be even easier if you bought precooked beans and canned chicken stock. The whole dish could be ready in less than 30 minutes.

The real recipe is on the website if you want to try it Swank Recipes

Have a great week. We'll fill you in on the NC Wine Competition for the State Fair, in the next few days!

The Fall Season Begins in the Kitchen

2006-10-05T22:32:00.000-04:00

What been cooking in Carolina this week?

I was food blog hopping, which is a great way to quickly review a lot of blogs and discovered Indira's blog Mahanandi and got inspired made Indian food for dinner. Her recipe that I (kind of) used (well, I didn't have all of the ingredients so like always, I made do) was for Coriander Chutney. The only thing I bought was curry leaves. I started shopping for Murraya koenigii "Curry Leaf" plants and found one in a 2.5" pot for 10.95 plus shipping. If anyone knows of a better deal (in US), please let me know.

So here is what we had for dinner:

Smoked Eggplant with Fresh Herbs {Bharta} from Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking
Frozen Spinach with Potatoes {Saag aloo} from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking
Bengal Red Lentils with Spices {Bengali Masar Dal} from Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking
Basmati Rice
Coriander Chutney from Mahanandi: Indira's Blog

Yum! I didn't get pictures but there are left overs. If they are picture worthy, I'll add them later.

I had bought some big thick boneless pork chops on sale and were awaiting me to figure out what I wanted to do with them and I remembered how easy it is to bread and grill them. The recipe is on the website Swank Recipes and it is quick and very juicy! We had them with grean beans and white beans cooked with garlic and basil oil. Enjoyed every bite!

We were trying to figure out what would go good with a grits recipe we've been wanting to try and decided on seafood. It's like cornbread, ya know? We think they have a great affininty.

So to the grocery store we went and checked out the seafood. They had a great deal on sea scallops (the cheapest we've have seen in a long time) and shrimp, so we bought them both!

We finally tried the recipe for grits souffle from Magnolia Grill, probably the most celebrated restaurant in NC. Both owners are CIA grads and James Beard award recepients. It is wonderful and we had a version of this at the restaurant and have been thinking about it for awhile. We found the recipe on the net and made our normal modifications (lowering the fat) and added a topping (sauted mushrooms). We served it with Coquilles St Jacque. It was great! The scallops were as tender as could be. Very tasty and airy. For all you non-grits eater who think polenta is a real gourmet treat, this one's for you! I know a French Main dish and a southern side! What is the world coming to?

We're off to the fair for 2 days to judge the wine competition (he-judge, me-volunteer). We'll check back in later!

Basil

2006-09-29T11:51:00.000-04:00

For the year anniversary of Weekend Herb Blogging at home at Kalyns Kitchen, the theme is your favorite herb. To be honest, my favorite herb is seasonal. My favorite summer herb is basil, fall is sage, winter is thyme and spring is rosemary. We grow all of these plus parsley, cilantro, tarragon, oregano, lavender, burnet, lemon balm, lemon grass, Wrigley's spearmint, chives, garlic chives, dill and wild peppermint grows wild in my woods. Some years I grow lemon verbena but my main source closed up and I had no easy access this year. One of my cats, Tai-thai has a preference for lemon grass, though you would think she would like the Thai Basil, given her name! Ha!

Anyway, I (probably along with many others) am going to focus on Basil, because it is the time of year when I have to figure out what to do with it all. Hopefully, I can put a twist on it that others have not.

When we make pesto, we make enough to freeze. It isn't as good as fresh, but still wakes up the palate on a winter day, or is great to stir into soups to lift the flavor! One nifty thick is to leave a bit of the pesto in the food processor, then add the flour, eggs, olive oil and water to make pasta. The pasta comes out beautifully flecked with the pesto and is delicately flavored too!

We love to make pizza with roasted eggplant, fresh tomato and fresh mozzarella and put fresh basil on it right out of the oven!

We just made basil, chive, and lime butter to put on fresh grilled corn on the cob.

And we made basil oil. It is great for decorating plates or adding color and flavor to pasta.

We will dry some too. Yes there is an occasional use for dried basil. And this year, for the first time ever, we're going to try to grow it under lights over the winter, now that we have an indoor growing chamber (which is used for grape seedlings, spring vegetables and orchids.)

Looking forward to fall even though I still have a tom of basil to process! And I want you to know how much I enjoy the other Weekend Herb Bloggers! Keep cooking! And if you want the recipe for basil butter, compound butter recipes are our recipe of the week on our website this week so check out Swank Recipes!

Wedding Reception

2006-09-25T09:03:00.000-04:00

I have been too busy to sit down, so maybe today (start) I can get(ting) caught up. Yesterday we catered a wedding for 120. The menu is below with a few pictures. We didn't take many because there was not time and the ones we did take, didn't turn out very well.

The menu is below.

Appetizers
Bruschetta "bar" with three toppings

Tomato, Fresh Mozzarella and Basil
Chick Pea Salad with Rosemary and Basil
Mixed Olive Tapenade

Breads with Jellies and Butters
Pineapple Pecan Bread
Cranberry Walnut Bread
Pear Hazelnut Bread
Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Bread
Cinnamon Nutmeg Clove Butter
Hazelnut Honey Butter
Homemade Jams and Jellies
(Blackberry, Fig, Grape, Raspberry)

Asian Style Chicken Drumettes

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Smoked Salmon Sandwiches

Main Course

Chicken Saltimbocca
Pork Tenderloins Braised in Balsamic Vinegar
Potatoes in Crème
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Green Beans with Bacon
Pasta with Pesto and Home Grown Tomatoes
Mediterranean Carrot Salad
Black Bean, Roasted Corn and Pepper Salad
Marinated Cabbage, Peppers and Onion Salad

It appeared that everyone enjoyed it based on the quantity of food that got consumed.

Not to dismiss the event, the bride and groom were radiant, happy and are a gorgeous couple and we wish them many happy years together enhanced by great food! Cheers to Heather and Jay!

Check out our website Swank Catering Website for information on catering weddings, making wedding cakes, menus and even recipes!

Mushrooms

2006-09-14T16:23:00.000-04:00

What's cooking this week?

We've had a big London broil braised and finished in the oven with oyster and shitake mushrooms and sauced with some stock and brandy which was good and provided many leftovers. So far, we've had wraps and I'll do a quick little stir fry with some more of it and now that I'm writing about it, it just occurred to me how much I like a meat and potato hash for breakfast with over easy eggs. Doesn't that sound good?

We've picked our last batch of corn :-(! It's in the frig, waiting to be processed. And I plan to dry some basil as well as make pesto for freezing this weekend.

The recipe of the week this week is a healthy way to cook fried chicken that's not fried. It really tastes good and is easy and NO grease. It is good with veggies and we've been trying to cook lots of corn, okra, eggplant, peppers and other summer garden vegetables.

A day later and I'm picking up where I left off. I finished off the pepper jelly and have made one batch of corn relish and another is waiting to be cooked and canned. We're trying two different recipes. We haven't touched the basil yet, as far as processing and the weekend is quickly coming to an end.

We've had spaghetti and meatballs, one of our favorites, especially because we use fresh tomatoes, fresh basil and homemade pasta. Last night, we had veal scaloppini and made Veal Masala to use the rest of the mushrooms. We served it over homemade pasta with broccoli raab par boiled and sautéed with garlic.
Variety IS the spice of life!

Back to work! Check out our website and recipes at Swank Recipes

Hot Pepper Jelly

2006-09-10T12:57:00.000-04:00

Hot pepper jelly used to be only a southern thing. I think it was popularized by Charleston Receipts, but don't know for sure. The recipe is in the cookbook with no fan fare. I have several old cookbooks, like my Grandmother's original, and she, like I, was from Virgina. I don't know how old the cookbook is, but there are articles from the newspaper with recipes in it from 1920. I also have a very old
Williamsburg cookbook as well as 2 from 1986 and there are no recipes for hot pepper jelly in any of them. I have heard that fancy dinner parties in Savannah and Charleston, it was served with water crackers and cream cheese. For those who haven't had the pleasure, it is a jelly made from bell and hot peppers. It can be red or green. It sounds weird but it is positively addictive. I do not know if anyone from anywhere who has ever tried it and not liked it. I recently visited the great town of Detroit and brought 3 kinds of jelly for my (3) hosts to choose from: fig, grape, and hot pepper, and the first one chosen was the hot pepper jelly (What does that tell ya?) and they were no southerns but me (what I mean is there were no Yankees there!)

It is traditionally served with cream cheese and crackers but serving with brie would work or as an accompaniment to meat. Trust me, if you've never had it, it doesn't taste like what you think it tastes like, whatever that is. Yes, it has a lot of sugar in it. It's jelly, after all. And because of it, you get the sweet and hot thing going. I am submitting this for weekend's weekend herb blogging, hosted this week at home at Kalyns Kitchen. It's really not hard to make and it's beautiful! I prefer all red because RED hot pepper jelly sounds and looks better than green, although they taste the same. I have even seen them mixed: 1/2 jar red and 1/2 green. It's pretty but it takes too much time when there isn't any.

My recipe:

5 red bell peppers
1 1/2 cups jalapeno peppers (or a mix of jalapenos and cayenne’s)
1 cup cider vinegar
2 cups white vinegar
12 cup sugar
3 boxes liquid pectin

Get most of the seeds and veins out of the peppers. Puree peppers in batches in food processor until very pureed. Add to large pot with sugar and vinegar. Cook until simmering and all of the sugar is melted. Bring to a boil. Add liquid pectin. Bring back to a boil. Boil 1 minute or until the temperature reaches soft ball stage (220). Spoon into sterilized 1/2 pint jars leaving 1/2" at the top. Put on lids and simmer in hot water bath for 10 minutes. Makes 14 1/2 pints.

Other things to consider: You can put the peppers through a food mill. I have one but like the pepper bits you see as a result of processing in a food processor. You can use all white or cider vinegar. I like the clarity that the white vinegar gives but the taste of the cider vinegar. You can use all green peppers. Most recipes call for all jalapenos. I happen to like mixing them for the heat and differences in flavor, but still use mainly jalapenos, but sometimes it’s based on how many I have of what in the garden.

If you try the recipe and you've never tried pepper jelly before, please let me know what you think. For more recipes, check out our website at swank recipes Cheers!

Soup, Pinini and Homemade Pizza

2006-09-08T19:51:00.000-04:00

I had a dinner meeting here at the house last week for 15. I wrote this and then forgot about it until I downloaded the pictures and reminded me to post it. It was the first time many of them had been here and I wanted to take advantage of the produce coming in from the garden. They took a tour of the vineyard and stocked up on grapes and figs before dinner, which means they weren't as hungry as I'd have hoped and I had way to many leftovers.

However, dinner was great. We had 2 soups: roasted tomato with basil and parmesan crisps and crab and corn chowder. They were both good. Our friend in Durham who has a outdoor wood fired oven (read: green with envy) supplied the wonderful bread for the panini. We had 1.) Brie with bacon and 2.) Pesto, grilled eggplant, fresh tomato and mozzarella and 3.) Grilled Portabella, red onion and Fontina. A Capaese Salad and a blueberry cobble rounded it all out!

The best part was that we had some of the grilled veggies leftover. The September Cooking Light magazine had an article on pizza. Even though I love my pizza dough recipe, one never knows so I gave it a whirl. They had whole wheat pizza dough with basil in the dough so I topped it with tomatoes, grilled eggplant, grilled portabella, onion, olives and mozzarella and parmesan. The other, I made a traditional crust (their recipe) and made a pepperoni (low fat turkey pepperoni, of course) with mozzarella and parmesan.

Everything was great, although I still like my old standby pizza dough better; however, I probably will use the whole wheat crust again, especially when I'm making multiple pizzas for the variety. I think you can probably find their recipes on their website. The magazine is still on the shelves.

I love pizza, mainly homemade and we eat it whenever we have just the right ingredients on hand. One of these days, I'll post my pizza dough on our website. In the meantime, check out other recipes we have posted swank recipes and eat well, love much, laugh often.

Figs - You're Darn Tootin'

2006-09-02T12:18:00.000-04:00

This weekend, Genie, from InadvertentGardner is hosting weekend herb blogging where you find people from all over the world featuring herbs, vegetables or flowers. Check it out; you're sure to find something you want to try.

This week we're featuring figs. This is our tree with a 12' ladder so you get the idea of its size.

We dried a dehydrator full of them, since they are extremely perishable and we still have fig preserves and fig puree left over from last year. Someone sent me a recipe to try for figs and sausage tapas, which we will. Mainly, we just like to eat them. They are great with goat cheese.

The fig puree is really good as an accompaniment to meat or just on bread. They are so sweet you don't need all that sugar. We just add Vitamin C to help it retain its color and that's it.

We grow several varieties but really like Celeste. It's the sweetest, if not the largest fruited, and has a flavor that approaches Nabisco's famed Newton, except Celeste, unlike the venerable Smyrna (Calimyrna in California), doesn't have viable seeds, that result from pollination by the fig wasp, a troublesome and expensive procedure in fig plantations that is considered worthwhile because the tiny seeds that develop are complete and contain an oily endosperm that lends a certain "nutty" character to Smyrna-based products. Celeste is classed as a "Common Fig" which means it develops fruit without pollination. No fig wasps, no nothing. It is parthenocarpic, which literally means "virgin fruited," appropriately enough. Nature is so kind to us *sometimes* and a plant that will set fruit reliably without the need of pollination and fertilization is a real gift, especially since the fig wasp doesn't thrive in North Carolina. So, learn to live without endosperm, folks.

You're Darn Tootin'

More Okra: Okra Gumbo

2006-08-29T13:09:00.000-04:00

More on Okra. I know, you are wondering why I am blogging on okra in the first place, but some of us love it and the next bitneeds documenting so here it goes.

When my husband was in graduate school, another student working on his PHD in the same program, lived with us for awhile. He was 100% pure-bred Cajun. He taught me to make okra gumbo; his mama's recipe. Anyone, including his mama would laugh at the idea that he taught me how to cook anything. The truth is that we spent alot of time over the phone getting the directions. We had invited several people overto learn with us in what was supposed take 30 minutes (or was it 4) hours later, when everyone was starving, we had our first okra gumbo and we've been eating it ever since.

My gumbo experience to that point was okra as an adder to veggie soups. Not this gumbo. It is mainly okra. You take a huge pile of okra and chop it in the food processor with some onions, bell pepper, hot pepper and garlic. Put a bit of oil in the bottom of a stew pot, add the okra combo, add a bit of water and cook it in a slow oven for several hours: "until you cook the slime out", stirring occasionally. Portion and freeze the "concentrated gumbo solution".

The picture on the left is prior to cooking and the one on the right is the concentrated gumbo solution. Do you see how much wetter the one on the left is?

When ready to use, I pressure cook a whole chicken, cool, take the fat off and debone and put the chicken back in the broth. Add the frozen "concentrated gumbo solution". You have Okra Gumbo with Chicken.

Serve over rice and season with Tony Chacherie's Creole seasoning. It has become a staple in our diet, particularly on cold winter nights. I tried my best to document the proportions for my recipes on my website so you can try it too. http://www.swankcatering.com/soup-and-stews.html
I have never seen this way to cook gumbo outside of southern Louisiana. It IS ugly but very good! I promise, no more okra (well, I don't mean I am going to quit eating it!) I do hope you'll give it a try!
P

Okra

2006-08-26T14:55:00.000-04:00

Okra is coming in full steam. For those of you that have never grown okra, what that means is that if you forget to pick them at least every other day, they end up being the size of your arm. Okay, I know that it's a southern thing and I know many people don't like it and claim it's because it's slimy. It doesn't have to be and I think if given a chance, everyone could find a way to love it. The easiest way to fall for okra is fried. It is very simple to do. You cut the ends off and slice it into pieces about 1/2" thick, dip them in beaten egg, then in corn meal and sauté them in oil, or deep fry them. That's the typical way to do it. I, on the other hand, try to minimize the amount of frying to reduce the amount of fat in out diet. So I take the cornmeal coated okra and put them in a single layer on parchment on a sheet pan and cook in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes, spraying with olive oil spray and turning about 1/2 way thought the cooking. Salt it lightly after you take it from the oven. It is crunchy and yummy, like popcorn. (Side note: I do the same for fish, except that I salt and pepper it and dip it in buttermilk, then cornmeal, then into the oven).
The picture is fired okra that's not fried, fried fish that's not fried and corn pudding, which is our recipe of the week on the website, if you want to check it out. Swank Recipes

Other ways we like to cook okra:

Sautéed with onions, tomatoes and corn and hot peppers

Okra with bacon and rice
Okra poppers, filled with jack cheese, coated with egg, corn meal and deep fried
Okra Gumbo (see previous blog on that subject)
Pickled Okra

It goes in any vegetable soup and makes it better! weekend herb blogging returns home to Kaylyn's Kitchen this weekend. Check it out for great ideas on food, herbs and gardening.

That's all for today!

P

Tomatoes and Basil

2006-08-18T12:24:00.001-04:00

My food blogging friend and neighbor in Durham, Jmom of In Our Kitchen told me about a wonderful way to get lots of ideas for gardening cooking eaters called Weekend Herb Gardening and it is right up my alley! I love seeing what everyone is growing and cooking in season around the world. This is my first post to it, this week which is hosted by Anthony's Kitchen.

We have about 1/4 acre garden. Right now we are picking the last of the blueberries and the first of the figs. We have green beans, butter beans and pick eyed purple hulls, corn, cucumbers, okra, and cantelope. That's in addition to the herbs that are in the garden year 'round (rosemary, thyme, oregano, chives, garlic chives, burnett and tarragon (some years).

We, like many others am being inundated with tomatoes and basil. We have about a dozen varieties of tomatoes and 4 varieties of basil.
We haved canned some of them and will can more and make salsa. We eat them fresh at every meal and regularly have caprese salads with fresh mozerella and basil. We have had fresh tomato sauce for pasta, grilled eggplant, fresh tomato and mozerella pizza with fresh basil, loads of pesto and roasted tomato soup a swank recipe link and gazpacho. It is hard NOT to focus on tomatoes when you have them by the bushel.

What next, you ask? We'll give you a few nifty ideas that you may not have thought of. Donna, a friend of mine, used to work for a caterer in Cleveland, years ago. One of the favorite appetizers was baby tomatoes stuffed with a piece of lettuce, crumbled bacon and a dollop of mayo. A BLT without the bread! We like to do it with a leaf of basil instead of lettuce, a BBT. It is very cute and yummy.

Weekend Herb Blogging

Another friend, Kathy, gave us her recipe years ago for Hungarian tomato pie. We have modified over the years. We use whole wheat pie crust (this recipe is on our website too), but you can use your own favorite pie crust; you just need 1/2 for the bottom or even buy those rolled up Pillsbury pie crusts to make it really easy. Chop 4 large tomatoes and saute in 3 Tab. butter until soft, about 5 minutes. Cool. Saute 2 large sliced onions in 5 Tab butter until soft. Stir in 2 Tab chopped parsley and 3 Tab chopped basil (we really like it with more basil). Mix 1 1/2 cups gruyere with 1 T flour. Stir in salt and pepper to taste. Line bottom of pie crust with cheese and flour mixture. Spread sauted onions on top then the cooked tomatoes. Cut the last uncooked tomato into identical sized wedges and place decoratively on top. Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes.

Serve warm. Serves 4 big servings.

Not your everyday tomato sandwich (although there's nothing like a BBT or a BLT). Enjoy the fruits of your labor! Eat well and laugh often!

Chicken Saute, Roasted Tomato Soup

2006-08-11T19:40:00.000-04:00

It has cooled off a bit but is still so humid you can't believe it! We found some beautiful shrimp at a great price and decided to serve it cold, with a cocktail sauce made with ketchup, lots of horseradish, lemon juice and hot sauce! It's great to eat cold shrimp on hot days, served with grilled corn on the cob, caprese salad and a cucumber salad.

We've had pizza with roasted eggplant, fresh tomato slices and fresh mozzarella and basil. YUM!

We found chicken legs and thighs for $0.19/lb so last night we had a chicken sauté with bacon, potatoes, onions, fresh herbs (basil, thyme and tarragon) and a salad of tomato, feta, and cucumbers in vinaigrette. It is so easy and good!

Tonight, we're thinking about some kind of corn chowder or maybe a roasted tomato basil soup or maybe some stuffed peppers or chili rellenos......What won out? Roasted tomato basil soup with parmesan crisps served with grilled cheese sandwiches.
The bread for the sandwiches were made by a friend of ours, Ron, in Durham, who makes it in a back yard outdoor wood fired oven (something I covet) and it is the best bread we have ever had in our life; therefore, the grilled cheese sandwiches with provolone and gruyere were to die for! The soup is our recipe of the week this week. Check it out along with other recipes on our website. Swank Recipes

The big deal for the next week is canning tomatoes and salsa. Along with cutting the grass, that's what I hope to be doing all day. I'll try to get a picture in when I get a spare moment!

Have a great weekend. I have some training I am doing all weekend so I’ll check back with you next week!

p

Summer Salads

2006-08-06T09:50:00.000-04:00

There are lots cooking in Carolina, especially with the heat index over 100 degrees. It makes one want to cook everything on the grill and makes me, more than ever; want an outdoor kitchen, especially for canning (plus a bread/pizza oven!). Anyway, we have been grilling out a lot: meats as well as eggplant, corn, etc.

We are big fan of breading with bread crumbs and parmesan and baking (as opposed to frying) to keep the fat down. When I saw a recipe in a recent Gourmet for breading and grilling, I tried it (if you can't take the heat....). You dip the meat (in their case, pork chops) into olive oil then in the breadcrumb mixture and put in on a hot greased grill. Leave it in the covered grill 4 minutes or so, depending on thickness. Turn, cover and leave until ready. We were surprised the coating adhered so well and seemed to hold in the moisture of the meat. Maybe it is also that the cooking time is so fast. We have tried it with chicken breasts and lamb (dipped in dijon then breadcrumbs and parmesan) and it is all so wonderful, especially with grilled corn.

We catered a party today for the Triangle Orchid Society's Growers Day. We decided on salads because it is a perfect summer lunch. We had Caprese salad, tuna salad with olive tapenade and pita points, potato salad with bacon, pasta salad with fresh and sun dried tomatoes, dried cranberries, and parmesan, oriental chicken salad and a Moroccan inspired lentil salad with feta, olives and mint. We provided lettuces and an array of breads if people wanted to make sandwiches as well as homemade dressing (Dijon vinaigrette, a sour cream/lime dressing (recipe is on the website) and a low-fat buttermilk blue cheese dressing) if anyone wanted a tossed salad. The guests seemed pleased so we were happy!

Today will be spent canning and freezing in the kitchen. Check out some of our recipes Swank Recipes Link

Relishing a breeze or cooler temperatures!

We hope you stay cool and cook outdoors or hire us to cook for you!

p

Grilling, Corn and More

2006-07-27T09:56:00.000-04:00

What's cooking in Carolina this week? With the garden coming in it isn't hard to guess. We are getting tomatoes, corn, butter beans, pink eyed purple hulls, eggplant, bell pepper, cucumbers and antelope.

We received the new Gourmet Magazine in the mail and they had a recipe for breaded grilled pork chops that looked good, so we tried it. We had not had breaded pork chops that were grilled before and were surprised how well the coating held as well as how juicy the pork chops were. I feel certain that you can get the recipe for them on the Epicurious website. Epicurious We had it with grilled eggplant and the quinoa salad, corn, scallions and mint from the same article. It was all good!

We had a wonderful broiled Salmon in a roasted tomato sauce from the July Cooking Light. The tomato sauce was very close to my recipe for roasted tomato basil soup and turned out quite well. We had it with an Israeli Cous Cous Salad with bell pepper and onion and corn, caprese salad and cukes, like most other meals.

We've also had some wonderful blueberry buttermilk pancakes.
We're getting a bumper crop of blueberries this year and freezing lots for later use. Yum!

Eat well while the crops are rolling in! Swank Recipes

More Crab, More Corn on the Cob and Summer Food

2006-07-20T11:34:00.000-04:00

We really have been eating a lot of crab lately. There was the aforementioned crab and corn chowder and crab cakes. Last weekend we had some young visitors. We had fajitas with chipotle chicken, cheese, onions, peppers (from the garden) and the roasted corn, black bean and bell pepper salad, with homemade guacamole on Friday night. On Saturday night, I planned to have coconut shrimp with lime dressing along with a caprese salad, butter beans and corn on the cob. One of the guests just loves seafood, having been raised in Baltimore and in school in SC. She claimed she had
never had good crab cakes outside of Maryland. Then another visitor told us she had never had crab cakes at all. SO there was my challenge and I just happened to have a pound of crab meat left over from the last event. So we added crab cakes to the menu and the recipe to the website for all to access. It was a hit.

Since then we have had flank steak rolled with 5 cheeses and spinach, braised and finished in the oven. We have also had pasta (homemade of course) with pesto, eggplant parmesan and sliced tomatoes.
What could be better! We also had some smoked pork butt with cole slaw, Cajun sautéed potatoes and corn on the cob.
Yes, we're eating a lot of corn too! Those little stove top smokers are wonderful for small quantities. On our website you can click thru to chef's where they are available. If you're into smoked food, it is a must have.

Lots of these recipes are on our website. Check it out! Swank Recipes

Enjoy summer food!

Crab Cakes, Corn and Crab Chowder

2006-07-12T19:09:00.000-04:00

Bushels of corn coming in and what to do you cook other than corn on the cob? Well, we've had boiled corn on the cob, roasted corn on the cob, and a few nights ago we made a corn and crab chowder that turned out great.
The recipe is on the website because I want to document what I did. Swank Recipes Link It was a great combination of flavors. We also need to make the corn, black bean and roasted pepper salad. It's great too.

We made a quick trip up to Norfolk for a big 90th birthday party for my father-in-law. We collectively agreed on crab cakes as a main course, partly because it is a perfect accompaniment to summer vegetables and second, everyone on the family loves them. So we showed up to cook them dinner starting with crab cakes and served with corn on the cob, butter beans, new potatoes, green beans, cucumbers and a huge bouquet of sunflowers, all from the garden (well, not the crab). And for dessert we made a chocolate cake with a mocha mousse filling and a chocolate ganache icing. We had enough leftover ganache to make a few chocolate truffles too.
I didn't get pictures of the food but I did get a picture of the flowers we brought and thought you might enjoy.

Until next time, enjoy the fruits of your garden!

Summer Garden, Fish and Shrimp

2006-07-06T18:16:00.000-04:00

We're cooking in Carolina in every way! It's been in the mid 90s and very humid ! And we're still cooking on the grill to keep the kitchen from getting so hot. Last night, everything was grilled: shrimp, corn, squash, green onions, corn on the cob and peppers and everything but the shrimp and onions came from the garden.

Last weekend, my mom brought some vegetables from her garden in Virginia that I don't grow, so I also made a wonderful roasted beet salad with red onions, olives and a garlic sauce to die for!

We are also trying to eat up last years frozen food to make room for this years. We had flounder that my brother caught at the coast that was really good with peas and a fresh salad. Even though the lettuce is bolting it is still pretty and very tasty. We usually have it with a balsamic vinaigrette. Our recipe can be found on the Swank website Swank Recipes

That's it for now!

Eat, drink, love and laugh!

p

Garden Fresh -sugar snap recipe

2006-06-30T21:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I am behind in my recipes and in my blog because of a major problem with a computer resulting from what we eventually found out was a lighting hit that took out our surge suppressor and modem. That was after Dell had us reformat our hard drive and we still haven't recovered all of the data. Anyway, so much for our woes. We're still cooking!

The garden is happening. We have almost finished with the peas and sugar snap peas and had our second large picking of green beans. We're getting tons of cucumbers and some squash (from Mom's garden). Yesterday we picked about 1/2 gallon of raspberries and a gallon of blueberries.
Needless to say, that's our diet mainstay.

What about the entree's, you ask? Well, we've had baby back ribs, seasoned with Chinese 5 spice, smoked in grapevine wood and dipped in an orange chipotle sauce, grilled chicken, chicken fingers with parmesan, crab cakes, spaghetti and meatball and best of all, I brought back some Smithfield country ham from my parents in Virginia. We also did a stir fry with chicken, bell peppers, onions and some fresh sugar snaps that were yummy!
Last night we did a chicken sauté inspired from Julia Child's Kitchen. You individually sauté smoked pork, chicken, potatoes and onions, then return all to the same pan, season with salt, pepper, fresh tarragon, basil and thyme and cover and finish in the oven. It is pretty easy and great.

Our recipe of the week this week is Pasta with peas and smoked Gouda.
Give it a whirl! recipe of the week this week

Hopefully computer malfunctions will be limited and we'll be back sooner.

eat well, live, love, laugh!

Lucky us! Morocco and Greece and Eggs Benedict

2006-06-18T13:07:00.000-04:00

We're having an eat-fest in NC this week with our friends Donna and Amanda visiting from out-of-state.

We started with braised pork tenderloin in a balsamic vinegar glaze (recipe available in our website recipes entree recipes link) with risotto and peas.

One night we had a Moroccan feast with Spanish appetizers. The appetizer was chorizo and cheese in puff pastry. We had three salads: Beet, Orange and Walnut Salad, Tomato, Onion and Preserved Lemon Salad, Couscous Salad with Tomatoes and Hot Peppers and Basteeya.

Last night was a Greek fest:
Tzatziki, Hummus, Eggplant Salad, Tapenade, Pita, Souvlaki and Spanikopita. Several of the recipes are on the website (Hummus, Tzatziki and Souvlaki) and the Dolmas recipe is this weeks recipe of the week! recipe of the week link

This morning we finished off with Eggs Benedict served with crab cakes instead of the traditional Canadian bacon to make sure they didn’t get hungry on the trip home.

On a closing note: we exercised every day, running and swimming in the pool, so eating wasn’t our only activity.

Until next time, eat well, live, love, laugh and give us a call if you need some food.

p

Graduation Party & Peas and New Potatoes

2006-06-11T16:52:00.000-04:00

What's cooking in Carolina this week? Well, I would say not much, because I was out of town from Monday through Thursday. I had a small party to cater on Saturday, so I arrived back in town, went shopping, then cooked for a day and a half.

The party was a graduation party. The food was an ecletic mix of interesting flavors, something for everyone; mostly finger foods.

The Menu

Spicy Shrimp on skewers
Jerk Chicken Drummettes
Souvlaki

[This is a picture of the chicken souvlaki. It is red from the wine and vinegar marinade. Our Recipe of the Week this week is this recipe, although if you want any of the others, just send us a note and we'll be happy to provide it! for Swank Recipes click here]

Tzatziki
Spanikopita
Mini Sausage Rolls in Puff Pastry
Mushrooms stuffed with Walnuts and Sundried Tomatoes
Melon and Prosciutto
Salted Almonds
Bruschetta with Toppings: Caprese, Tapenade, Chickpeas with olives, olive oil, hot pepper and rosemary
Grilled veggies
Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

This is not to say this is all we ate this week. We got our first picking of potatoes, peas and cucumbers from the garden this week and because it has been so cool, we are still getting lettuce. Now I can promise you that there is nothing like eating fresh from the garden! For some reason, the first picking always tastes the best too!

Salads and Seafood and Salads with Seafood

2006-06-05T14:04:00.001-04:00

What's cooking different this week in Carolina?

Last night we had homemade pizza with low fat turkey pepperoni, a whole head of roasted garlic, mushrooms, roasted bell pepper, onions and olives. The tomato sauce was from canned tomatoes with garlic and loads of fresh basil. Really very good.

The night before we had salads: a left over lentil salad, fresh lettuce salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, olives and a balsamic vinaigrette and a wonderful potato/tuna salad. It is a must try and will be our recipe of the week on the website. Swank Recipes

We also had a fresh from our garden lettuce salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, olives and a balsamic vinegrette served with crab cakes that were great.

We've been in a fish mood and they had some beautiful fresh grouper on sale at whole foods, so I dipped it in flour seasoned with paprika, then in egg, and finally in panko seasoned with Old Bay and sauted it up in a small amount of butter. It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside and quite good.

Our winderful neighbor gave us a head of broccoli from her garden and we had a chicken to roast, so instead we pressure cooked it and shredded half of it to make Chicken Divan. I like to cook thick egg noodles, butter them and line the bottom of a baking pan. Top with broccoli that's been cooked only 2-3 minutes and drained. Top that with the shredded chicken then a mornay sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan
and baken until it starts to brown. Yum!

Eat, drink, laugh, love!

Memorial Day Party Food

2006-05-29T11:44:00.000-04:00

What's cooking on the Memorial Day weekend? Well, we cooked for a party at a friends house on Saturday.

The Menu:

Baby turkey and beef cheeseburgers (baby turkey burger is in the picture held together by a standard toothpick, so you can get the idea of size)
Salted almonds
Marinated Olives
Hummus
Lentil salad with peppers, feta and mint

Breads: focassia w/olives and onions, w/sage and onions, and w/black pepper, truffle oil, rosemary and thyme, baguette and pita
Dips: spinach and parmesan, garlic oil with parmesan and herbs
Grilled Veggies: multi-colored bell peppers, yellow squash and zucchini, eggplant, portabella, onions, asparagus
Chicken satays with peanut sauce and cucumber relish
Spiced shrimp skewers with lime dipping sauce

And it doesn't stop there. We had cheesecake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream and a chocolate cake with a mocha filling.

Did we mention beer? Lot's of beer! (It was hot, after all!)

Have a great Memorial Day!

Lime Dressing Recipe Link Please visit our website for this recipe or others AND if you need a catered party! Swank Homepage

Hodgepodge: Chicken, Rapini, Wings

2006-05-20T09:09:00.000-04:00

Yes, we are still eating out of the freezer, however, we are really trying to watch what we eat and lose a few pounds. Exercise is part of it too. I'll never understand why it is so easy to put on and so hard to take off. We are real believers in the idea that you have to burn more calories than you take in. Basic. Some times of the year or some years it seems we get out of the exercise habit. We are now back in it.

We are getting in lots of strawberries and that makes breakfast easy. They are very good fresh; better than anything we have ever bought at the market.

I am still on the Moroccan theme at least once a week, both from the Weir book as well as Claudia Roden's book: The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. We had a great chicken with olives and served it with Israeli couscous with oyster mushrooms. We tried these big boneless pork chops sauted with peppers and onions, added wine and herbs and finished them in the oven so they were tender on yellow rice.

My husband has been hungry for rapini, also know as broccoli rabe and I finally found it at Whole Foods. Is is so easy to make a great one coarse meal with it. The recipe is out recipe of the week this week.

We are cooking for an outing tomorrow and since we are still trying to use up potatoes, we are going to make that yummy potato salad we had in a previous blog and sticky sesame chicken wings. It solves a couple of problems (freezer and potato excess) and should be great to boot. I'll try to get pictures and post them later.

Have a warm weekend.

Eating From the Freezer, Part II with Strawberries

2006-05-13T10:48:00.000-04:00

We are still eating out of the freezer BUT the strawberries are coming in. We have been getting a big bowl of them every few days. This is the picking from this morning:
We just like to eat them, unadorned. They are a great variety, not bred to be giant but to taste good, just the way we like them.

We took out a London Broil and marinaded in a chimichurri sauce, grilled in and served some of the sauce on top. It was great. If you have not tried the sauce, I'll try to get the recipe posted. There are many versions of it. This is the combination we like best but experiment and season to your liking.
The Food Lover's Companion states that "it is a thick herb sauce as common in Argentina as ketchup is in the US... a must with grilled meats and a common accompaniment to a variety of other dishes." We love it. We could eat it on any grilled meat! We served it with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans.

We also had more chicken. We pounded them out then breaded and floured them, sautéed them and finished them with morels, peas and asparagus. It was really a great spring dish.

Our garden is coming up great and the rains have been a big help, but since we planted so late, we aren't harvesting anything yet. However, our wonderful neighbors did get their spring garden in early and we are getting some great lettuce for salads from her garden.

Spring Fever! Makes me hungry! Until next time, eat well, laugh often, love much!

click here to check out Swank recipes

Eating out of the Freezer - Part 1

2006-05-07T17:30:00.000-04:00

This time of year, we really start to get focused on eating out of the freezer. We will need the space for this years vegetables and, yes, we know we really should have been eating out of it more all along.

So, we took out some chicken breasts we bought on sale (Well, actually, everything that came from the grocery store that is in the freezer was bought on sale). My husband got a choice of about 4 or 5 options for cooking the chicken breasts and his choice was chicken fingers, which we have not had in awhile. We bread them in half parmesan and half bread crumbs and bake them on a reack in the oven. We served them with macaroni cooked with peas from the freezer and smoked gouda.

We took out 1/2 fillet of salmon which we grilled with a wonderful rub that is this weeks recipe on our website for swank recipes, click here and served it with a capellinni with fava beans, artichokes (also from the freezer) and spring carrots. It tasted of spring.

We also took out low fat ground turkey and had turkey burgers with cheddar and a pablano pepper relish served with cajun sautéed potatoes and a salad. Nice progress and didn't have to go to the grocery store all week.

Stay tuned for more freezer finds: London broil, more chicken and venison.
Eating well! Hope you are!

for swank recipes, click here

Dinner at Magnolia Grill

2006-05-04T08:38:00.000-04:00

We had dinner for the first time at Magnolia Grill night before last. For those of you not familiar with, it is probably one of the best known, if not THE best known restaurant in NC. The Ben and Karen Barker are the owners. They are both CIA grads and it is an award winning kitchen. I have wanted to have dinner there for years, but
something always came up. We don't go out to eat much as we are usually disappointed and eat better at home. Boy, am I sorry we haven't been there before.

The atmosphere is a casual elegance, sophisticated southern! The tables are not too
close and the chairs are comfortable. The art, which apparently rotates quarterly, was folk, local and food oriented. We liked it. It's kind of hard to believe that you're on a neighbor street in Durham. The service was very good.

The food, which I would call uptown Southern with an Italian twist, was superb! For appetizers, we had spring lettuces (local) with an apple cider and sourwood honey vinaigrette with spicy pecans. We also had a Vidalea onion chowder with shrimp, country ham and a black pepper chantilly cream. Yum! Smooth with a kick to it. Trust me, I'll try to make this and let you know what I work out. For a main course we had a potato-crusted Alaskan halibut on a leek and potato fondant with a fava bean, spring carrot, asparagus bouillon and a cornmeal crusted Carolina grouper in a "Jambalaya Risotto" with shrimp and Andouille sausage. Everything, including the service was very well done. If ou know about this restaurant, you know has
multiple awards. Check out: http://topchefs.chef2chef.net/recipes-2/barker/ to see some of the list as well as to pick up a few recipes. Unfortunately, we didn't
get dessert (believe it or not, we are trying to lose weight and we were celebrating, but that meant we had wine and not dessert) but they
looked great with an unusual selection.

If you are even in the area, we highly recommend it. It is a hidden treasure, as I've read it described and a true find. Make reservations before you come and let us know what you think. I know loads of people who have eaten here and have never heard a complaint. I didn't get any pictures so you have to go see yourself.

Until next time, enjoy local food!

Chipotle, Pork Chops, Mango Salsa, Lettuce, Strawberries

2006-04-30T11:50:00.000-04:00

The weather has been different, more like winter after a few weeks of summer-like weather. We have been in a severe drought; until last week were in a 15" deficit this year, so cooler weather and 3 inches of rain since last week was a good thing. It helps wash away the pollen and the garden needs the water really bad. So Yea!

So we have been eating more winter like again. We've had navy beans and ham, roasted corn soup and venison stew. We also had a chipotle marathon: we made both beef and chicken chipotle tacos with caramelized onions and a chipotle tomatillo salsa (mainly from this month's Eating Well magazine), pork chops with a tomato orange chipotle sauce, grape vine wood smoked chicken with barbeque sauce, and my favorite black bean, corn and roasted pepper salad (The recipe was previously posted in our recipe collection. swank recipes ) and black rice made with the liquid the black beans cooked in.

Tonight, I had not been to the grocery store in a few days. My neighbor had given us some just picked lettuce (she planted hers way before we did). I had pork chops, 3 mangos, one pear, and fresh green beans that needed to be cooked or they would not be fresh anymore. So we had a fresh lettuce salad with walnuts, pear and blue cheese with a lemon walnut vinaigrette, grilled pork chops with a cumin, allspice, salt and pepper rub served with fresh mango salsa, the left over black rice and green beans. It was a pretty good for balance of taste and texture as well as for last minute planning.

Oh, and the same neighbor, Marne, picked strawberries (ours are not ripe yet) and brought some dipped in chocolate. Oh no, we are exercising and cutting down on calories. What to do? Anyway, the fresh mango salsa was the bright spot so I've added the recipe to the website. mango salsa recipe

Cheers!

Planting and Cooking Potatoes

2006-04-22T11:39:00.000-04:00

I need to talk about potatoes. Maybe it's because we just planted a few hundred feet of row of them in the garden. Maybe it is because we bought 50 pounds of them at $13.00 vs $0.50/lb. if we had bought them by the pound. Needless to say, we had some leftovers so we are eating potatoes, which is not a bad thing.

There are dozens of ways to cook potatoes. Some of my favorites are roasted with garlic and rosemary, mashed (plain, with roasted garlic or horseradish), baked or twice baked and potato salad. It is amazing to find out how many different ways people mash potatoes. It is funny, because we do them so many different ways. My favorite is with butter and buttermilk. I know it sounds funny, but the buttermilk adds a nice texture and tang. Try it just once. I can almost guarantee that you will love it, even if you don't like buttermilk.

There must be as many recipes for potato salad as there are cooks. I like it a few different ways: the first is old fashioned southern potato salad. As a young cook, I liked it loaded and each of my brothers and sisters wanted something left out (I don't like eggs, I don't like onions, etc.) Then don't eat potato salad, EAT POTATOES! I like my old fashioned potato salad with potatoes, minced or green onions, minced boiled eggs, chopped celery, and sweet pickle relish. I like to take mayonnaise and mix it with mustard, pickle juice, celery seed, salt and pepper and then mix that in with the cooked potatoes. Superb! I also like a potato/tuna salad with cooked potatoes, tuna, red onions, olives and artichokes with olive oil, salt and pepper and German potato salad. Recently I tried a recipe with yukon gold potatoes cooked in chicken broth and mixed with celery, onions, Westphalian ham, chives, and a bit of olive oil and lemon juice. It was very good.

Then there is potato soup. I particularly like baked potato soup. And a Spanish potato tortilla. Have you had that? Yummy! And scalloped potatoes.

I could go on and on but need to do other stuff. We are putting the recipe for twice
baked potatoes on the recipe of the week this week. swank recipes

If you want some of the others mentioned above before I have time to post them, feel free to ask and if I can write them up to send them to you, I am accomplishing two tasks: document them for you and posting. It might speed up the process.

Needless to say, we are not into low carb; we're into great tasting, healthy, slow
food and hope you will cook some, enjoy it and send us a note! If I have repeated a picture here from a previous blog, sorry. These were the only pictures I had of potatoes. I've been cooking and not taking pictures. Hopefully, it will give you some ideas on ways to cook potatoes.

Cheers!

Spring Fever

2006-04-15T14:44:00.000-04:00

Spring is everywhere! I love it and really appreciate the netural beauty we are
fortunate enough to live in the mist of. Our native azaleas are in bloom as is the red honeysuckle we found on our driveway. The redbuds are about done but the dogwoods and several varieties of wild viburnum are in bloom.

This is year one for our asparagus. It looks good and although they say you can pick a little the first year but we are not so it will grow stronger for future years. We planted the early garden yesterday. We know it is late for an early garden but we let the grapes get the priority around here so the garden doesn't get planted until we get the time. We planted potatoes, lettuce, radishes, green onion, green peas and sugar snaps. Hopefully today, I'll get some of the fun stuff in, like sunflowers, zinnias and nasturtiums. The seed trays are planted, except corn, which I hope to get in today as well. Almost everything is up: tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and herbs. When ever I start planting, I get hungry for all the things that are weeks and weeks away from being able to pick and eat.

So what are we eating? We found a deal on veal at Costco and made two different veal dishes: one with fontina and asparaus and the other rolled with pancetta.

They look springy to me. I took pesto out of the freezer (the basil is only an inch or two high in the seed trays) and shrimp to make a pesto shrimp pasta dish for dinner. We also just had jerk pork tenderloin grilled with basmati rice and pink eyed purple hulls (they are like black eyed peas, only they grow better here) cooked with harissa. We fell in love with jerk chicken at a little restaurant named Bananas on the island of Vieques off the coast of Puerto Rico. They served it with a sauce called Hot n Honey. The restaurant has changed hands and the original maker of Hot n Honey has sold it and the new-name-brand doesn't taste the same. I am still working on it and when I get it just right, I'll post the recipe. In the meantime, my standard recipe for jerk is on the website. recipes I just love it.

Enjoy this beautiful weather and keep cooking!

Moroccan Tuna, Couscous and Arancini

2006-04-09T11:26:00.000-04:00

What's new in your neck of the woods?

We planted asparagus last year for the first time and although you can not eat very much of it the first two years, it is pretty exciting to watch it come up and grow. The starwberries and the blueberries are blooming, so it won't be long before they are coming in. We just finished pruning the grape vines last week and got the vineyard cleaned up and are going out today to get fertilizer and other chemicals. Maybe we'll get potatoes too and at least get the potatoes, peas and lettuce in the ground. Lots of other things (eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, etc.) are in seed trays in the growing chamber and should be sprouting soon. Spring is in the air! Lots of fragrant plants in our landscape are blooming (viburnum, Sweet Betsy, gooseberry) as well as in the orchidarium and the grape seedlings are doing better than they have in years.

So what's cooking in Carolina? I made wonderful grilled tuna kabobs with Moroccan spices and served it with couscous and an orange, radish and carrot salad, all from the Weir book, From Tapas to Meze. They were all superb. I highly recommend the book. I have not had anything out of it yet that wasn't great!

I didn't make it to the store before Saint Patrick's Day for corned beef, but had it on the brain so I bought some and cooked corn beef with cabbage. My favorite way to cook cabbage is to saute onions and peppers and when they get soft, add the shredded cabbage with thyme, salt and pepper and just a touch of water and just cook a minute until the cabbage wilts. Instead of the traditional boil, I roasted onions, potatoes, carrots and turnips. Very flavorful.

We had a big bonfire to burn the vines we took out as well as some trees we had taken out last year. We use the best part for firewood but the limbs we added to the fire. I can't have a fire with out going back to my childhood and thinking about a weinie roast and s'mores so we had hot dogs and mac-n-cheese. You didn't think we always ate gourmet did you? Well, I do make my own mustard and hot dog chili.

And I finally made great arancini. Have you had it before? I first had it as a side dish at a wonderful restaurant in Durham called Star Lu so I came home and read all I could find about it and tried several methods until I came up with one I was happy with. It is basically risotto that has cooked and cooled, then is breaded and fried, usually with a stuffing of some kind. It is our recipe of the week. I hope you'll try it.

I had to bring a picnic lunch to an 'event' we volunteered at yesterday. I am making turkey burgers with avocado cream, fontina and a pablano, pepper relish for our sandwiches and a potato salad with yukon golds cooked in chicken broth, Black Forest ham, celery and sweet onions to share. Doesn't that sound great?

I love this time of year! Wish you were here. Check out more recipes at our website Swank Recipes

How to Throw a Cruise Ship Theme Party

2006-04-02T11:59:00.000-04:00

We frequently get asked about our hugely successful Cruise Theme Parties, so we are going to describe the best one so far.

When we decided to design a cruise ship theme party, our first consideration was the number of people attending and the location of the party. We expected 150 guests. We wanted to have the party on two of the three levels of the spectacular home where the party was to be held, one of the party givers. Our next consideration was maximize the space, keep people moving and not bottleneck the guests at any one spot, like one buffet table. Since cruise ships normally have a large buffet, we decided that would be the focal point; however cruise ships also offer their guests other eating options. We did this as well. The buffet would be in tent outside at the upper level, between the portacache and the garage. The garage would be carless, with one bay opened to the tent and set up for the band. The other bays would be closed off, hidden from view and used as set-up area for some of the party staff. The kitchen on the same level and would serve as the coffee shop. The study, also on that level, was designated Susan's Sweet Shop, named for one of the party-givers and housing a huge array of desserts for the guest to choose from. On the lower level, the bar (already there) served as the bar. Outside, we had a hot dog stand with hot-dogs and french fries under a tent. Off the bar in the in-house theater, we had South Pacific playing (and not only did people watch it, we had to replay it!). When the guests arrived, they received a map of the ship decks along with their lea's: it was the actual floor plan of the two stories of the house we were using, labeling the rooms so people would know what was available. This is the lower deck map:

The invitations were in the shape of a ship and gave the boarding times (party start time) as well as the seating times for dinner and boarding passes for a certain number of guests. It also instructed the guests to wear cruise ship casual clothing.

The decor: we ordered a large arch which had to be assembled for the entry onto the ship (or into the tent). It was cute, however, it was a pain to set up and the "party" company we ordered it from did not send enough material (like tape) to actually put it together. In the future, we would do it ourselves and make it a bit sturdier and possibly reusable. This thing was great as a picture venue but fell apart almost the second the party ended.

The linens in the main tent were white, covered with hues of blue. The centerpieces were original: we took bamboo pieces about 2 1/2" and put in in styrofoam in small clay pots and stuffed fern leaves out of the top of the bamboo. They looked just like mini palm trees.

We rented fish net, crab pots, and other nautical items from the rental company. The food tables were spread with palm and banana leaves and had huge vases filled with lemons and limes which held large flowers.

The party givers wore captains hats and the other staff wore navy style GOB hats, also ordered over the net. When the guests arrived, the library lounge near the entry served as a lounge with a pianist was playing lounge music. After everyone arrived, the band played 60's beach music in the main tent area.

We had an organized game, like they do on cruise ships. We got two teams to volunteer. Each was given an equal length of soft rope. At the sound of the starter, each person had to lace the rope in some item of their clothing (like down a sleeve) until the rope went thru everyone on the team. First team to win, won champaign for each member.

The entire menu can be seen on our web-site: Cruise Ship Theme Party Menu

The party was a huge success. Everything came together, people went everywhere and enjoyed the house, the food and the netertainment, everyone's favorite was something different (the sushi bar, the hot dogs and fresh french fry bar, the venison (a first for some), the desserts, etc.

Be creative and have your own theme party. It's fun, it engages the guests and everyone goes away happy. On the other hand, if you live in Carolina, we could plan it for you.

Now, back to work!

p

Chicken Cacciatore (or How Many Ways Can You Cook Chicken)

2006-03-26T12:16:00.000-05:00

In my humble opinion, chicken is the most versatile of all meats. There are so many
different recipes and ways to cook it to get significantly different tastes and flavors. Roast chicken is so simple to make and such a comfort food and the leftovers can make a wonderful stock for a huge array of soups or stews. If you think about how many ways there are to cook chicken, it is mind boggling. There is fried chicken, buffalo wings, chicken cordon blue (or saltimbocca), chicken tetrazzini, jerk chicken, cacciatore, chicken fingers, chicken tacos, burritos or enchiladas, chicken gyros, chicken noodle (or rice) soup, coq au vin, chicken fricassé, chicken and dumplings, gumbo with chicken, chicken pot pie, chicken ala king, chicken teriyaki, chicken cutlets, chicken tenders and chicken parmesan. You can cook chicken by different every method: braised, sautéed, baked, roasted, grilled, stewed, etc. You can barbeque chicken, grill it whole or in pieces, marinated, bricked, on a beer can. You can make chicken salad. or have chicken on a salad. How about in Chinese stir fries, Greek marinated, Japanese-style or Mexican? You can cook it with 40 cloves of garlic, chicken satays or pound out some breasts and do a quick fry. Chicken Divan. Chicken fried rice. Chicken Kiev, chicken casserole, creole, stew, hash, paprika or a good old grilled chicken sandwich, breaded and fried or grilled, spiced or not. I particularly like the chicken sautés in From Julia Child's Kitchen, like Poulet sauté bonne femme (Chicken sautéd with potatoes, salt pork and onions). You know, there's not one here that here I haven't tried. Mind-boggling, isn't it.

So what's cooking in Carolina? The other night we had Chicken Cacciatore, also called Hunter's Chicken or Chicken Chasseur. Why you ask? I had several multi-colored peppers that needed to be used or they were going to go bad and I had a few big plum tomatoes from Costco. It had been a few years since I made it so there you have it. The recipe is on our web-site. Swank Recipes The picture is above. I left out the mushrooms (to save a trip to the store) and served over pasta. It was great! Life is good!

Caio or Chow (as we say in the South)!

Eggplant and Lamb

2006-03-22T11:38:00.000-05:00

Maybe it is the possibility of spring that has me on a tear cooking new things. We had lamb ravioli with mint, yogurt and garlic. It was very different.

On the American Iron Chef on the food channel, they had an eggplant competition. It looked so good, it inspired me to cook eggplant. I started with an Armenian eggplant jam (a lot of these are from Joanne Weir's From Tapas to Meze.). It was a great condiment and one that I will start playing with. It is also something that looks great to can so when I am getting an abundance of eggplant from the garden, it is something to use it up for eating in the off season. I don't know why I never thought of canning eggplant. We eat Baba Ganoush when eggplant is in season and you can buy that in jars so now I have made the connection and I'll have more to can.

While shopping at Harris Teeter (not even Whole Foods), I came across the Thai eggplants I had seen them use on the eggplant Iron Chef. So I made a chicken curry with eggplant. It was really very easy, since I already had some ready-made Thai red curry paste. I took a can of coconut milk and added the red curry paste and chicken thighs. You could use any part of a chicken, including breast skinned, boned and diced. I used thighs because they are tender and juicy and cheap! I cooked the chicken in the cocnut curry a good while, maybe 45 minutes or an hour. I added the small green eggplants in the last 10 minutes and finished it with a lime, juiced and coriander chopped.
Now here is what we thought. We were not impressed with the eggplant. For being so small, they were full of seeds, way more than the big eggplants and they were a bit herbacious as well. Everything else was wonderful. We served it on Jasmine rice and we would definitely make it again. On the other had, I would replace the Thai eggplant with Asian ones.

We also tried Turkish Spiced Lamb "Pizza" from the Weir book. Great with added crushed pepper.

In the meantime, we'll go back to pruning. And when we get a spare minute or two, we'll plant the seeds for the summer garden. We have most of them, but I still need to order a few heirloom tomatoes. The grape seeds are coming up in the new seedling growing area fast and furious, way faster with the heat, light and watering controls. Hopefully, it is home to the perfect seedless muscadine, if it is not already in the vineyard. You'll be the first to know!

Try the best eggplant recipe in the world: the recipe is in on our website!
Swank Recipes