Sherry – Page 53 – Rosemary and the Goat

Honey Jalapeño Cornbread

Cornbread meets a plate of veal sweetbreads.

And you thought you knew cornbread.

Cornbread is a quick bread made with cornmeal, flour and some leavening and there are so many types of cornbread that come from soul food country in the south to a sweet cornbread from Texas. Two things I was disappointed in when we moved to Texas were the BBQ sauce (not hot but sweet) and the cornbread (not course in texture but more sweet and cake like).

I’m sure there are just as many ways to use/eat cornbread as there are recipes out there. My grandfather use to crumbled up cornbread into a big stemmed glass full of full fat cultured buttermilk that would go klug, klug when it was poured because it was that clabbered. And what would our thanksgiving dressing be without cornbread for your stuffing mixture; cornbread salad is a wonderful salad for the summer that is layered with beans, lettuce and other ingredients; and I have even used thin slices of cornbread cut in triangles as a base for an appetizer using smoked pork tenderloin and then topped with mango salsa.

Just as there are a million recipes and uses for cornbread there are just as many shapes it can be bake; in an iron skillet, muffins, corn sticks, fried in a skillet, spoon bread, cactus shaped, and I even have an iron skillet that is divided into individual wedges. I also have these tiny loaf pans that are 1″x3″ which make adorable (if you can say that about cornbread) little loaves.

To me there’s nothing better with cornbread than a big bowl of white beans with a spoon of chow chow on the side. But, on a recent trip to Chicago we had dinner at Leopold’s, which is a Belgian food inspired restaurant. We had a wonderful honey cornbread to go with some fried veal sweetbreads (thymus or pancreas glands) served with a mustard gravy and that was the cornbread that inspired me to come up withethics recipe.

Whether you are having a bowl of beans, soup, a vegetarian meal or just about anything you set before you to eat, a good piece of this cornbread in my opinion would be the finishing touch to your meal.

June 21, 2012 By Sherry

Morning Foods/ Side dish/ Vegetables

Parmesan Baked Tomatoes

Campari — The tomato lover’s tomato.

Campari tomatoes are one of my favorite types of tomatoes. They are known for their juiciness and extraordinarily sweet taste and low acidity. They are deep red, bigger than a cherry tomato and so cute to boot. As baby bear said, Not too big, not to little, but just right.

Brunch for my daughter’s birthday on Memorial day consisted of ham, bacon and mushroom quiche, tiny cinnamon rolls, these Baked Parmesan Tomatoes, and some pork belly that was fried up by my husband and of course a bunch of mimosas.

These tomatoes are great to add into any menu. I’ve never been accused of not having enough food but I like to cook and I’m not force feeding anyone. Guest can always pick and choose what they want to eat with no retribution from me not even a hurt feeling or two.

It does take me awhile to get over failures. I tend to dwell on something for days (don’t know why) if it doesn’t turn out like I expected. I think I am far, far from a perfectionist but when someone doesn’t like a recipe I know I should have tried it before serving the dish. I feel like if I read a recipe and know the ingredients the end results will be good. Anyone that knows me is aware that I’m not a taster. Never tasted raw cookie dough, can you believe that? All the years of catering did not change that. Now if I was making something chocolate I would probably taste it (after it is cooked, of course) but I guess I feel like if I like the ingredients then I don’t need to be picking on it the whole time taste testing it. Sometimes I do not hit the nail on the head with a recipe and it may need to be tweaked at another time but most of the time I think I do pretty well without sticking my fingers in the pot.

June 13, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Pork

Wok’n Noodles

Wok’n around Paris on a rainy day.

For some reason, I love taking pictures of signs and windows/doors. When we were in Spain a couple of years ago I took a lot of pictures of these beautiful white formal dresses I kept seeing in windows. Some looked like wedding dresses and some like formals. They just really spoke to me and said, “take a picture of me”. Not six months after that my daughter got engaged — maybe that was a “sign”. In Paris I took pictures of stores named “Terry” (my sister) and “Paul” (my son).

This is a picture I took from the top of a bus on our first day in Paris back in March. I just knew I was going to have to come up with a good noodle recipe after seeing the name of this restaurant. I’m always getting inspiration from all sorts of places.

Our only rainy day in Paris was the first day we arrived, and it was a steady drizzle. We were not going to let that stop us from getting out, and we decided to do one of the open double decker buses. We stayed on the top through all the drizzle and enjoyed the view and sites. Then at one of the stops right there on the corner was this little place called “Wok’n Noodles”. A blog post was in the making. I immediately thought of “Wok Around the Clock” (Bill Haley and his Comets), then “I’m Wok’n” (by Fats Domino), “Wok Like A Man” (Four Seasons), and finally “Wok Like An Egyptian” (Bangles). Weren’t those great woking songs.

So, I thought, why can’t I come up with a Wok’n Noodle dish that is absolutely “rocking” and one that I think you will enjoy.

June 5, 2012 By Sherry

Cake/ Coffee Cakes/ Dessert

Fresh Peach and Raspberry Cake

Why can’t I leave a recipe alone?

Thanks Ina (Garten) for this recipe; and I decided to add in some raspberries, hope you don’t mind.

We got home from a weekend trip to Austin of seeing the kids and grandkids and as always the first thing I do is to flip on the computer. I don’t know what I was looking for but, there staring me in the face is Ina Garten’s Fresh Peach Cake.

I don’t know if I have mentioned this before and I will probably mention it at least a gazillion times before I can let it go, but while we were in France our freezer shut off for no apparent reason and one of the things I lost was all the summer fruit I had picked (or bought) last summer and put up for future use.

If riding three hours back from Austin wasn’t enough work for the day, I decided to clean out the bottom freezer of my inside refrigerator. Lo and behold I found a package of my peaches and raspberries that were saved from that ghastly day everything decided to die in my outside freezer.

So, recipe – fruit — MAKE CAKE. I did Ina’s recipe exactly (I guess not exactly) but decided to use the raspberries along with the peaches; I do love the combination of those two fruits and it was delicious and beautiful.

I’m serving this tonight for dessert with a soup that I threw together with a bunch of other stuff I cleaned out of the freezer. The soup may not be worth keeping around for leftovers, but I know the cake will be delicious and hey, I still have some of that Blue Bell Homade vanilla ice cream that is waiting around for someone to eat it.

June 1, 2012 By Sherry

Appetizers/ ColdApp

Fig and Cheese Bruschetta

Figs and Blue cheese – Yum!

What a easy and delicious little appetizer to serve at your summer parties.

Happy Memorial Day to everyone and happy birthday to my daughter, Alexis.

I’m always looking for recipes that are easy to throw together on a moments notice and this recipe is perfect for a last minute appetizer. I don’t find many things hard to make so sometimes If I say easy to throw together, I hope I’m not too far off and, you can make changes to this one and still have a tasty bite. (see note below)

Appetizers are by far my favorite things to make. I always loved catering cocktail parties because of all the fun little tidbits I could make for the guests to try. There’s just something I like better about trying a lot of little cocktail foods vs a big plate of food. With cocktail foods you can keep going back for more and no one really notices how much you have eaten. 🙂

This is another recipe I decided to try out on our bunco group. I hope they like it. (RESULTS– They were a hit.)

I had really hoped to find fresh figs in the market. I tried a couple of different places but had no luck. One store told me they had tried to get them but at the time they were $30/lb. So for now I’m using these dried figs and decided to drizzle them with a little fig balsamic vinegar. The balsamic and the honey paired great together.

My dad always had figs growing at their place and now my sister has the opportunity to go pick those figs anytime she wants when they are in season. I always wanted to try a fresh Fig Newton cookie with them but that’s still on my “to try” list of things.

The original recipe was just blue cheese spread on baguette slice with two fresh fig halves on top. I decided I would like to use Cambozola cheese (blue and Camembert mixed). I thought that would be too expensive so I bought a box of Camembert and a package of Magtag blue cheese. Not a good decision. I spent probably twice as much on the two cheeses as I would have if I had gone on and bought the Cambozola — live and learn I guess.

I chose to serve this bruschetta at room temperature. It would be good either hot or room temp.

May 28, 2012 By Sherry

Dessert/ Ice Cream

Ginger Cantaloupe Ice Cream

My first ice cream recipe for the summer and it won’t be the last.

So we are strolling through one of the markets in Provence and a lady tells my friend about her “ginger beer”. My friend loved the taste and then came and found me and convinced me to buy some also. My first thought was “now I can make that green apple ginger martini that I had once in Austin”. So I bought it and I have used it on a few things and plan on freezing the remaining liquid before it goes bad.

My friend has used the ginger juice on fish with great results. I sprinkled some on some grilled steelhead trout the other night and thought it was pretty darn good.

To me there’s nothing better in the summer than a ripe cantaloupe sprinkled with a little salt. I started thinking about cantaloupe ice cream and sprinkling the top with a little of my fleur de sel (sea salt) I brought back, and why not add some of the ginger juice to the mix as well. Well, why not make it, I have all the time in the world so why not mess up my spotless kitchen that it took me all morning to get clean.

So this is my first ice cream post for the summer months. I will probably have many more to come. There’s nothing better on a hot sweltering day than a cup (or bowl) of some kind of creamy ice cream or sherbet. And, if you make it yourself, it’s even better.

May 23, 2012 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp

Cheese Stuffed Baby Bells

Colorful appetizer for your summer parties.

Some how I forgot to take a picture of these little peppers after they were plated.

With Memorial Day just around the corner, here’s a new recipe for your grill and appetizer files.

I just love these little baby bell peppers. I have always loved stuffed bell peppers like my mother use to make with ground beef, onion, rice, some tomato sauce and seasoning. One of these days I’m going to try and make these mini peppers with a meat and cheese filling, maybe just add some ground cooked meat to the below recipe for a start.

There’s just something about cute little vegetables that are so appealing to me. I think for one thing, they have a sweeter taste. And, other mini vegetables like long baby carrots, baby zucchini, patty pan squash and the little fingerling potatoes and of course the cipolini onions just make a plate of food move up a couple of notches on the appealing factor.

May 18, 2012 By Sherry

Dessert/ Desserts

Floating Island (Eggs in Snow)

Something I definitely wanted to try in France.

So, before heading off for France I found a “must try” food list while in France. Below was my list I was working from and if I managed to try them.

Baguettes (tried many times), croissants (almost daily), cheeses (many different kinds were eaten), charcuterie (had it), foie gras (yes), steak frites (yes), croque monsieur (twice), crepes (suzette of course), fleur de del caramels (yes), and quiche lorraine (twice) were a few of the “must try” things and we made it through the list. We can’t forget macarons (made them twice, had them from Laudree), pates (definitely), rilletes (didn’t, but have made one), duck confit (yes, twice).

Ok, so I have either made a lot of these things or have had them before, but it was so much more fun sitting in some little French bistro or brasierres, trying to translate a menu, watching the people go by and toasting our time in France.

The desserts were beautiful (see some of the window shots I got of bakeries). I knew I wanted to try Floating Island and sure enough it showed up on a menu our second night in Paris. A guy next to me ordered it and I looked at it and said “floating island”??? and he said yes. I knew I had to order it. Their meringue was done differently and was baked and then cut into large wedges.

Floating island is a French dessert (they call it Eggs in Snow) consisting of meringue puffs floating on a pool of crème anglaise. The meringues are made of whipped egg whites, sugar and vanilla extract that are quickly poached in water or milk. (I did these in water, but will use milk the next time.)

I don’t know about you but I never like my refrigerators (I have three) to be without milk, cream, butter or my pantry to be without flour, yeast, sugar or vanilla. You can make almost any dessert or breads from those ingredients; so I don’t think we will ever starve in this house.

This dessert is such a recipe. A little egg, cream, sugar and you have a wonderful little dessert which looks so elegant served in a martini glass.

May 14, 2012 By Sherry

Food Stories

Paris, Provence and A Few Pounds

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating — Luciano Pavarotti

And we did just that while in France.

Were those few pounds worth it?

Our first night in Provence, and in our tiny little town of 1,800 (Eygaliers), we had one of our most fantastic meals in France (we had several) — Sous les Micocouliers. What impressed me most about this dish was the way they had the leg cut flat on the bottom so that it would stand up. And, the boneless thigh was wrapped around some sort of risotto mixture. Don’t ask me what the smear on the plate is, I have no idea, just know it was delicious.

Now, were those pounds worth it? Of course they were! Every ounce, and I’m not even sure what the scales would say if I were to get on them. I’m holding off until I can get back in the gym.

We enjoyed all the sights of Paris and so many wonderful meals and experiences. We had an apartment in the 2 arrondissement, Montorgueil area, and had a 15 minute walk to the Louvre. I loved walking down the Champs-Elysées before heading to the Eiffel Tower at dusk — what a sight.

Normally in the morning we would grab something from one of the bakeries in Paris and head out for the day. If we did not stop for lunch we would make an early afternoon visit to a bistro or bar for some wine and FRENCH FRIES. Boy, where those fries good and we did this almost daily. We learned really quick how to say “frites”. And, please, a glass of “vin rouge”. Later in the afternoon we would start thinking of where we were going to have dinner. I had read about Verjus months earlier and made reservations so we knew one night was already planned. Believe me when I say where we eat was just as important as what we saw during the days. We turned our heads at the sight of a McDonalds or even a Starbucks — none of that for us. We were there to enjoy everything French.

We saw many wonderful museums but one of our favorites was the Musee du quay Branley. After all the museums full of amazing art work by some of the most famous artist in the world, I was ready to get to Provence ,and if I had one ounce of “go” left in my knees, ready to see some of the hill towns. Provence was my favorite of the whole trip and I think we had our best meals and wine there. (Update, looks like I have no go left in the old knees, one getting replaced this summer.)

May 10, 2012 By Sherry

Side dish/ Vegetables

Asparagus with Orange Sauce

Inspired by French cooking class to try this recipe.

My favorite part of France was walking around the markets that were in our neighborhood in Paris and also in the small towns we visited while in Provence.

It is hard for me to imagine (except I was there and saw it) what it would be like to shop daily for your food, to see just picked vegetables and know that they probably still have an earthy smell to them. One day we saw the most beautiful turnips (see picture below), they still had green stems attached and looked just minutes picked from someone’s field.

One of the things we prepared in our cooking class was a simple sautéed asparagus (see pictures below) with salt and pepper and when it was done, Erick, our chef teaching the class, took a jar of orange oil (I think this is the kind sold in a pharmacy) and with an eye dropper, carefully dropped just a few drops of the oil over the cooked asparagus. Having this that day reminded me of a recipe of Laura Calder’s that I had been wanting to try – Asparagus with Orange Sauce. When I saw her make this dish, I wasn’t sure about orange and asparagus but after tasting our dish in our class I thought, why not give her recipe a try.

May 5, 2012 By Sherry

Side dish

Red Ginger Rice with Chick Peas

From our cooking class in Arles, France

Just as beautiful as the one we made at our cooking class in Provence.

Our cooking class in Arles back in March was one of the highlights of our trip to France. The class was taught by Chef Erick Vedel and featured fresh ingredients from the market (we shopped with him) and the surrounding country side. We helped to prepare the meal (enjoyed wine along the way) and then enjoyed a feast of our labors. He opened a bottle of his 1999 Chateauneuf-du-Pape to go with our meal.

We were about 30 minutes late for the class that day. Our GPS got us to the exact area but then the streets split off in three directions. After stopping at one place for directions, the man pointed me towards the end of the street. I then stopped at a local pub. I asked a man about the address and he said, “oh, Erick Vedel”. I said yes and then he said “Erick is a friend of mine” and he pointed us in the right directions. Everyone was so nice in Paris and in all the towns we visited in Provence.

We got there just in time to head out to the market. Our market visit included buying cod, giant calamari, apples, olives, asparagus, lemons, and fresh ginger and then we went back to his house to prepare the meal. It’s hard to explain what his kitchen looked like, every little corner of the two room kitchen was filled with things that he cooks with, stacks of mortal pestles, graters, knives, pans, everywhere (see some of the pictures below). It looked about 200 years old at least. It was a very fun class for the four of us. His helper, Isabel, interpreted much of what he said. We just followed his directions and did what we were told especially when he poured us wine and said “drink”.

April 30, 2012 By Sherry

Cake/ Dessert

Sugar Plum Cake

Visions of sugar plums dancing in my head over this cake.

Our two weeks in France went by so fast. And I was right about all the pastries we ate. There are a couple of things we had while there that I want to try and recreate. Like the cream puffs that the little bakeries in the town we stayed in made. They had a chunky sugar (sucre pearl) sprinkled on top with powdered sugar on top of that.We had those several times in Provence. I loved the large sugar palmiers that we bought each morning for breakfast, and the Macarons that we had from Laduree were wonderful.

Before leaving on our trip I made this Sugar Plum Cake for a group of friends one night. I didn’t want to tell them that it was made from prunes because I was afraid that the cake would be shunned. So I simply said it was a sugar plum cake made with plums. Everyone enjoyed the cake and I finally fessed up to the fact that it was indeed made from prunes. Maybe most people don’t like prunes but I love them. Can’t stand the juice because it looks and taste like it is made for someone 90 years old with a problem. I do love having the individually wrapped prunes on hand for snacks.

This is a recipe my sister gave me and another one of her recipes she has been trying to get me try for quite some time. So, I decided one day to make it and I was very happy with the results.

What is your favorite bunt cake? Leave comment below if you have one you would like to share.

April 25, 2012 By Sherry

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