Recipe: Roasted Broccoli

This recipe came to me from The Amateur Gourmet, who got it from Ina Garten (aka The Barefoot Contessa).  I'm not a huge fan of Ina's show--just how many gay florists are there in the Hamptons, anyway?--but her recipes tend to be fantastic.

I generally eyeball this, but it's pretty close to the recipe.  The most important steps are to make sure the broccoli is really good and dry and to not chop the garlic up too finely (and definitely don't press it).  Ina's recipe suggests adding some basil at the end, which I didn't; I usually add a good pinch of red pepper flake, though I didn't tonight.

Roasted Broccoli
3 heads broccoli, cut into spears and thoroughly dried
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
4 big cloves garlic, sliced
3 tbsp toasted pine nuts
1/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan (the good stuff)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Toss broccoli spears with garlic and 1/4 cup olive oil, along with garlic, salt, and pepper.  Spread out on a sheet pan and roast for 20-25 minutes, or until some brown bits are forming on the tips of the florets.  Return to the bowl, add the rest of the oil, the pine nuts, and the Parmesan.  Toss, correct seasonings, and eat.

Recipe: Zucchini Pancakes

This is a recipe that Laura Biggs turned me on to last weekend. It still needed a bit of fine tuning but I think this is it. We had them for breakfast with cheesy scrambled eggs. So good...

From "How Not to Hide Your Vegetables"



Zucchini Pancakes

½ cup all purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp ground pepper (cayenne or aleppo, depending on desired spice level)
1/8 tsp. black pepper
½ cup buttermilk
2 tsp. vegetable oil
2 ½ cups shredded zucchini (about 1 pound)
½ cup shredded Vidalia onion
½ cup chopped red bell pepper
2 Tbs. grated parmesan
2 tsp rosemary (or basil)
Cooking spray

Combine 1st 6 ingredients and stir. Add milk and oil to moisten. (This is where you add a splash of good beer if you happen to have one in your hand. Not too much though!) Add zucchini and next 4 ingredients. Heat a nonstick griddle until hot and add heaping tablespoons, spreading each into a 2 inch round. Fry 3-5 minutes each side until browned.

Recipe: Spicy Carrot Soup

From "How Not to Hide Your Vegetables"

I first had carrot soup at the Atomic Cafe in Lexington many many years ago. And I loved it. Creamy, aromatic, flavorful and a little spicy. They served it with a sweet cornbread. And I would always get some momma's mac-n-cheese on the side. MmmmMmmMmm! Anyway, this was one of the first restaurant dishes that I tried to make at home with no clue where to start. and no internet to cheat with back then either. After several so-so attempts, I finally had a soup that I would eat with a straw. Hope you enjoy!


Carrot Soup

2 ½ cups sliced carrots
1 tbs. butter
1 tbs. flour
1 cup cream, ½ & ½ or milk
1 ½ cups broth, chicken or veggie
1 tbs. parsley
1 tbs. basil
1 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Steam carrots until very tender. Combine carrots and ¾ cup of broth in a food processor until smooth and set aside. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and seasonings, stirring occasionally for 3 minutes. Add cream and cook until thickened and bubbly. Stir in blended carrot mixture. Add up to ¾ cup of broth as needed to thin. Cook until warmed through.

WCN! August 2010: How Not to Hide Your Vegetables

You've seen those commercials: "This juice has two whole servings of vegetables in every glass! And your kids will never know!" Whole books have been written about hiding vegetables from your kids, and recent versions have been about sneaking them to your husband. Are vegetables really so horrible that we have to trick grown-ass men into eating them?

This week on What's Cookin' Now!, the world's only live radio cooking show (that we know of), we're going to put veggies front and center, and we'll trick our families into eating their vegetables by making them taste good. Broccoli, eggplants, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers--we'll show you some vegetable dishes that you won't need to hide.

That's Wednesday, August 4, from 6-7PM, on 88.7 WMMT-FM in Whitesburg, KY! Stream it online at http://www.wmmtfm.org

Cheerwine Kreme Filled Krispy Kremes

Now, just to be clear, I didn't plan a weekend in Asheville just so I could get my hands on some Cheerwine-filled Krispy Kremes. But I can't say that they had nothing to do with it.  When I heard about this North Carolina-only confluence of NC delicacies, I semi-seriously considered that I could drive the 3 1/2 hours to Asheville and pick some up, and then it occurred to me that I haven't been to Asheville in a while and CrazyCatLady and I were long overdue for a romantic weekend away.  So plans were made and off we went.

Of course, since we were there anyway, we had to look for some.  They were only being sold in grocery stores, and the first trip to the Ingles near our B&B proved unsuccessful.  But as we stopped there on our way out of town to stock up on Cheerwine itself and various New Belgium beers (come on, guys, why can I still not buy Fat Tire in KY?), I stumbled upon a small unassuming table of boxed-up Krispy Kremes in the back corner.  And there they were.

I should back up and explain a little bit.  I'm sure you know what Krispy Kremes are--namely, they are mankind's finest donut and a reason for living, especially if you hit the shop when they're busy and they pull one straight off the conveyor belt for you.  But you may not know that the company originated in Winston-Salem, NC.  Cheerwine is an intensely sweet, intensely carbonated cherry soda based in Salisbury, NC and much beloved throughout ACC country.  So the Cheerwine Kreme Filled Krispy Kreme is a carb-heavy celebration of central NC, a place I called home from 2002-2005.  (Oddly enough, you can now often find Cheerwine in retro-style bottles at Food City here in Hazard.)


The donut is chocolate covered, with sprinkles reflecting Cheerwine's dark burgundy hue.  I was a little concerned about the chocolate--isn't that gilding the lily? Is it going to cover up the Cheerwiny goodness?

On bisection we find a low filling ratio.  I generally don't have a problem with this, since I find most filled donuts to be overly filled and thus overly sweet.  But such a small amount means that the filling really has to deliver.

One problem is that store-bought KKs have to be revived in the microwave before they're worth eating, and barely ten seconds in the 'wave (not quite enough to revive the donut) had the filling running out of the fill hole.  This is a bigger problem if you don't like eating a whole donut at once.

But did it work?  Hells yes, it did.  The filling has a nice punch of Cheerwine flavor, and the chocolate complements it very well.  I don't think I'd buy more of these in the grocery store, but I'd definitely have one in the KK shop--if I happened to be in Salisbury, since it's the only place these will be available after today.

Salt

So it's no secret that I love salt. And I have been blessed with friends who understand how much I love salt. Tonight, as I cooked supper, I realized I have 13 different kinds of salt--8 of them a gift from my dear friend Beth, who lives in a converted whorehouse in Deep Elem in Dallas, TX. And I haven't even called to thank her. For the salt, or for living in an apartment with such a colorful history. Anyway, yesterday, when I made chicken salad, I used the Thai Ginger salt, and it gave it a certain tang.

Tonight I'm cooking turnip greens, and I tossed in some Alderwood Smoked Sea Salt--although I'm not sure I shouldn't have used the Porcini Mushroom Salt. But maybe I can sprinkle some of that on the big, heirloom tomato I snagged at the Farmers Market this morning--and may I take this opportunity to rant about the "farmers" who are selling shit they clearly bought at some wholesale place?

But my guy's tomatoes were clearly his, warty and bumpy and imperfect,and he was as irritated as me at the fotched on produce. Anyway, if I salt the tomatoes now, they'll exude a nice juice that we can sop up, along with the pot liquor from the greens, with the little cornmeal pancakes I made. And I've got some shrimp ready to toss in a boil with some Zatarain's and WCN! favorite esoteric spice, allepo pepper.


Who cares if I bloat up like a beached whale? That's what I'm having for supper tonight.

Postscript: Oh, hell yes.

Recipe: the Southern Orleans

The recipe for this cocktail came from a man named Charles Portera, but you'd better not call him that--he's The Diva, baby.  He tends bar at the Court of Two Sisters, right between Bourbon and Royal Street; we met him during an excellent Cocktail Tour, and went back to visit several times during our stay.  You'll definitely know when you've met The Diva; he's prone to exclamations like, "Woo, you see that waiter over there? Honey, if I wasn't married, I'd be all over him like gravy on rice."

This cocktail took the top prize at Tales of the Cocktail, the annual gathering of cocktail nerds in NOLA. (It's going on right now, in fact, and reading the blog posts from down there hurts me.) This feat is even more impressive when you consider that The Diva has never actually tasted the drink--in fact, he hasn't had a drink in fifteen years.

I'm not big on pre-made sour mix, so I replaced it with a mix of about 1/3 fresh lemon juice and 2/3 bar syrup (that is, equal parts sugar and water heated up until it dissolves).  Seemed about right.  Ordinarily you don't put fizzy ingredients in the cocktail shaker, but since the fizz isn't really a factor here, it works.

Southern Orleans

1 oz Southern Comfort
2/3 oz lemon sour mix
2/3 oz Champagne (The Diva specifies Korbel)
1/4 oz Grenadine
1 sugar cube
1 lime wheel

Place the sugar cube in a cocktail (martini) glass.  Put the SoCo, bubbly, and lemon sour mix in your shaker with clean ice, and shake.  (Remember: horizontal, over the shoulder, fifty hard shakes.)

Strain into the glass with the sugar cube.  Pour the grenadine straight down through the middle of the drink.  Do not stir.  Garnish with the lime wedge.  Raise to The Diva.