Food For Thought

The first thing you may notice about Natchez, Miss., other than the fact that it’s on the way to nowhere and the locals break for bourbon by 3 p.m., is that everyone seems to be disappearing behind doors—courtyard gates, tall doors to historic homes, doors to 200-year-old brick buildings and intriguing antique stores. I’m visiting my friends who have a cooking school and catering company here called High Cotton. Doug is a fantastic chef, and Karry is one of our photographers. We’re shooting a story for the July issue, as well as taking in a little Spring Break fun with the kids (5 between the 2 of us, and 7 including the neighbors' kids).

Hot tamales and donuts are a staple in Natchez, MS. 

I love Natchez—it’s a cross between a sleepy mini New Orleans and Mayberry. The food is a mix of Cajun and Southern with, oddly enough, a preponderance of tamales. Yes, indeed, Mississippi has the tamale trail, consisting of miles of tamale places. The state also has a plethora of local doughnut shops, with the best hot doughnuts I’ve ever had, and a few combination tamale/doughnut shops.

Steamed crawfish for dinner                Hot boiled peanuts taste a bit like black-eyed peas

There are also fresh crawfish and my favorite, boiled peanuts, which taste a bit like black-eyed peas. Oh yes, and Mississippi’s only local brewery, Lazy Magnolia (located in Oxford) makes the Southern Pecan Brown Ale that is delicious. And one more thing—Brown's Velvet Creole Cream Cheese Ice Cream is killer, but good luck finding that anywhere north of Oxford.  

Here are a couple recipes to celebrate crawfish, tamales and peanuts. To visit the tamale trail go here: http://www.tamaletrail.com/

Beef and Cheese Tamale Pie

This festive casserole feeds a crowd and kids love it.

Filling:

1 large onion, chopped

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 (14-ounce) canned stewed tomatoes

2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 1/2 cups grated pepper Jack cheese, divided

1 1/2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese, divided

Cornmeal Batter:

3 cups lower-sodium chicken broth

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups yellow cornmeal

2 cups cold water

1 cup low-fat plain yogurt

Toppings:

1/3 cup low-fat plain yogurt

3 tablespoons heavy or light cream

1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained

Sour cream (optional)

1 (6-ounce) can pitted black olives (optional)

1. To prepare beef filling, combine onion, ground beef, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt and chili powder in a large skillet; sauté until beef is browned.

2. Add tomatoes and corn and heat through. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

3. Preheat oven to350F. Lightly grease a 13-by-9-inch casserole dish.

4. To prepare cornmeal batter, combine chicken broth and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Whisk together cornmeal and cold water until smooth. While broth is boiling, add cornmeal mixture all at once, whisking constantly. Stir over medium heat until thick and boiling. Cook 3 to 5 minutes or until the consistency of mashed potatoes. Stir in yogurt and cook 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often.

5. Spread about two-thirds of the cornmeal batter in casserole. Add beef filling. Top with 1 cup pepper Jack and 1 cup Cheddar cheese. Spoon on remaining cornmeal batter and smooth with a spatula.

6. To make the toppings, stir yogurt and cream together in a small bowl. Spoon lines of yogurt mixture and diced tomatoes across top. Sprinkle remaining cheeses over top.

7. Place casserole dish on top of a large baking sheet. Bake 30 minutes; cover with foil and bake 30 minutes longer. Let stand 20 minutes before serving. Serve with sour cream and black olives. Serves 10.

Recipe by Jim Fobel.

Per serving: 370 calories,17g fat, 27g prot., 32g carbs., 4g fiber, 1030mg sodium.

Seafood Gumbo

This gumbo starts with a medium-dark roux and the “Cajun Trinity”: diced celery, bell pepper and onion. The reserved shrimp shells take a quick bath in the clam juice and broth mixture, making the gumbo super flavorful.

Ingredients

3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 bay leaf, crushed
1 tablespoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced bell pepper
1/2 cup diced white onion
1 cup sliced okra (about 1 pound)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 quart reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 quart clam juice
1 1/2 pounds small or medium shrimp, peeled, shells reserved
1 (14-ounce) can fire-roasted tomatoes
2 cups fresh oysters, drained
1 pound lump crabmeat, shell pieces removed
1 pound crawfish tail meat
8 cups cooked white rice
4 green onions, chopped

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir in flour; cook until smooth and darkened (about the color of a penny). Add thyme and next 10 ingredients (thyme through garlic). Cook until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and cool about 30 minutes.
2. Bring chicken broth, clam juice and reserved shrimp shells to a boil in a large pot. Cook 10 minutes. Remove shrimp shells, and reserve stock.
3. Add vegetable mixture to stock and blend well. Cook until thickened. Add tomatoes, oysters, crab, crawfish and shrimp. Simmer 20 to 30 minutes. Serve over rice; sprinkle with green onions. Serves 16.

"Room in the Bowl," December 2009.

Nutritional Information

Per serving: 360 calories, 13g fat, 155mg chol., 27g prot., 33g carbs., 2g fiber, 1100mg sodium.

I was introduced to brown bread ice cream years ago on a photo shoot and totally forgot about it until yesterday when I had a fabulous Creole cream cheese ice cream (in Natchez, Miss.) that reminded me of it. Since it's St. Patrick's day, I thought I would post a recipe (this one from epicurious). It’s much better than green beer, and corned beef for that matter. Although when I worked at Cooking Light, we did a great maple syrup corned beef recipe (that I can't seem to find???).

Irish Brown Bread Ice Cream

1 cup crumbs from brown soda bread or crustless whole wheat bread

14 tablespoons granulated sugar

3 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar

2/3 cup whole milk

13-inch piece vanilla bean, split lengthwise

2 large egg yolks

1 1/3 cups chilled whipping cream

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line baking sheet with foil; butter foil. Mix breadcrumbs, 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and brown sugar in medium bowl. Scatter over prepared baking sheet. Bake until sugar begins to melt and crumbs are slightly darker, stirring crumbs occasionally with metal spatula to prevent sticking, about 10 minutes. Transfer breadcrumbs to bowl and cool. Break crumbs into small pieces.

2. Place milk in medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring to simmer. Remove from heat and let steep 30 minutes.

3. Whisk egg yolks and 5 tablespoons granulated sugar in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in milk mixture. Return mixture to same saucepan. Stir over low heat until custard thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, about 5 minutes (do not boil). Strain into small bowl. Chill custard until cold, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour.

4. Beat whipping cream in large bowl until firm peaks form. Fold custard into cream. Gently fold into breadcrumbs. Transfer to covered containers and freeze. (Can be prepared 3 days ahead. Keep frozen.)

If drinking green beer isn't your thing, bake a cake this St. Patrick's Day. Here is a cake using Guinness beer, that we featured in a St. Patrick’s Day article a couple years ago. Also, here is a link to the NPR site, which features an admittedly much simpler chocolate cake with Guinness from Nigella Lawson: 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124611065

Guinness Stout Chocolate Layer Cake

Photography: Mark Boughton, Styling: Teresa Blackburn

Drizzling Syrup: 
1/3 cup Guinness Stout 
1/3 cup dark brown sugar 
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 
1 teaspoon vanilla 

Cake: 
2⁄3 cup Guinness Stout 
(measured after foam has subsided) 
2/3 cup currants 
1/3 cup, plus 2 tablespoons, 
unsweetened cocoa powder 
2 ounces semisweet 
chocolate, cut into small pieces 
3/4 cup buttermilk 
1 3/4 cups, plus 2 tablespoons, sugar 
2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons, all-purpose flour 
Cooking spray 
2/3 cup butter, softened 
4 eggs 
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1/2 cup red currant jelly, warmed 

Bittersweet Icing (see recipe) 
1 cup chopped walnuts 

1. To prepare syrup, combine all ingredients in a small, heavy saucepan, whisking until smooth. Heat over medium heat, until sugar dissolves and syrup is smooth. 
2. To prepare cake, pour stout over currants; cover and soak until plump. 
3. Drain currants, reserving stout. Add stout to a small saucepan. Whisk in 1⁄3 cup cocoa and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat; add semisweet chocolate, stirring until chocolate melts. Cool slightly. Stir in buttermilk. 
4. Preheat oven to 350F. 
5. Combine 2 tablespoons cocoa, 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons flour. Coat two 8- or 9-inch square or round cake pans with cooking spray; dust with cocoa mixture. 
6. Beat butter with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Gradually beat in 1 3⁄4 cups sugar until well blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla. 
7. Combine 2 cups flour with baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with chocolate mixture, stirring until blended. (Batter may look curdled.) Stir in currants. 
8. Divide batter between pans. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack 10 minutes; invert onto rack. 
9. Poke tops of cake layers with a skewer or toothpick. Spoon Drizzling Syrup over tops. Place one layer on a platter. Spread warmed jelly over layer on the platter. Chill 30 minutes. Cover jelly with about a quarter of the Bittersweet Icing. Place second layer on top. 
10. Ice top and sides of the cake with the remaining icing. Press nuts into sides of cake. Serves 16. 

Recipe by Crescent Dragonwagon.

 

Bittersweet icing

To make the icing for the Guinness Stout Chocolate Layer Cake, boil the cream and melt the chocolate a day ahead to allow plenty of time for the mixture to chill. Once the cake is iced, keep it cool.

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
6 ounces bittersweet
chocolate, finely chopped
4 1/2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
4 1/2 tablespoons cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt

 

1. Bring cream to a boil. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl, pour boiling cream over it, and whisk until chocolate melts and is thoroughly combined. Cover tightly and chill. Chill beaters from a hand-held mixture at the same time.
2. Up to 3 hours before serving the cake, whip chocolate mixture with a hand-held mixer. When soft peaks form, sift in confectioners’ sugar and cocoa and add vanilla and salt. Continue whipping until combined.

Per serving: 460 calories, 26g fat, 105mg chol., 7g prot., 52g carbs., 2g fiber, 230mg sodium. 

March is the breakfast issue. If you read this blog, and don’t get Relish in your newspaper (poor you), check out the Shakshuka recipe online. It’s an Arab dish I had while in Israel last year. Basically it’s eggs simmered in a spicy tomato sauce. This will be my go to dinner from now on when I want breakfast for dinner.

Speaking of breakfast, or dinner, does anyone else have a butter bell? It’s the best thing in the world, and I should have listed it in my ednote as one of my favorite breakfast things. It’s a little porcelain gizmo--softened butter goes in the top, which is then turned over and placed in cold water. You keep it on your counter, so the butter is always soft and spreadable. My kids hate it when it’s empty. You can get them just about anywhere for around $10.  

My kids are like anyone else,they want what they don’t have. And what they don’t have is food made from other people or at least not often. I don’t routinely buy frozen dinners, or anything that says “just add water” or pre-made cookies of any sort  (Walkers Shortbread having official dispensation from the rule). Cookies are something I make for them. But when my daughter insisted on buying the Nestle chocolate chip cookie dough (already portioned no less) the other night, I didn’t blink twice. In addition we bought the Pillsbury Sugar Cookies  or “slice and bakes” as we used to call them. (I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the dough boy. I had one of those plastic versions for years.) I grew up on these and have always secretly loved them, and must say I still do. We ate them hot and gooey from the oven before dinner. What’s your guilty pleasure?

Here is another food movie but of another ilk. More in the lines of Food Inc. It's Big River, the sequel to the award-winning documentary King Corn, where best friends Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis set out to grow an acre of corn in Iowa, and then sell it. In Big River , they follow the tributaries and river from Iowa to Mississippi to find what the pesticides they used on their corn, have done to the fish (and fishermen) downstream. It's eye-opening. Check it out here  http://www.bigriverfilm.com/#/Home

 Big River Trailer from Wicked Delicate Films on Vimeo.

The most adorable book just landed on my desk, and surprise, surprise, it has nothing to do with food. It’s called Thank You (a Book for Teachers) by Sandy Gingras. It’s a tiny little book with adorable child-like illustrations of all the things we should thank teachers for. As it happens, my son Sam has a crazy, zany, fabulous fourth grade teacher this year, named Mrs. King. She’s a scientist and bucks the rules and makes them count ants and watch storms out the window and dress up. When the kids are talking she gives them a make-believe karate kick with her shoe that she’s painted eyes on.  She also doesn’t really believe in homework--and oddly enough Sam has learned more this year than he did last year when he had the hardest, most demanding teacher in the school. Everyone who has a teacher they’re thankful for, should get this book.

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My daughter and I watched When Harry Met Sally for the bajillonth time this weekend. And although it's not a food movie per se, I decided it should be included because Ryan set a new gold standard for high maintenance eaters--which my daughter most certainly is. So here are my favorite food movies or at least the ones I could think of now……yours?

Big Night

Babettes Feast

Mostly Martha

Dinner Rush

Eat Drink Man Woman

Like Water for Chocolate

When Harry Met Sally

If you love espresso or really strong coffee, the bialetti espresso maker is for you. I was introduced to it by my friend Robin, who roasts her own coffee beans and then brews them in a bialetti. I still have a drip coffee maker, but use the bialetti when I want just a cup or two of really strong coffee. And unlike a French Press it keeps the coffee really hot.   I also love the way it looks sitting on the (cheap, catawampus) eyes of my electric stove. How does a stovetop espresso work?

Water is placed in the lower container, approximately 3-oz. per cup. Also in the lower container, is a basket that holds the finely ground espresso coffee, approximately 1-2 full rounded teaspoon of ground espresso coffee for each cup—I use the inexpensive Cuban coffee called Bustelo that’s available at most supermarkets and Wal-Mart.  If you like your espresso stronger, add more coffee. The lid or upper pot is tightly screwed in place to form a seal and the top container, the pot, is inserted in place.

The pot is then placed on the stove over high heat. When the water in the lower container heats, steam is produced. Because steam occupies more space than water, it builds pressure and forces the hot water up through the coffee and a filter to the pot above. In a couple of minutes you have espresso!

I found a great illustration of the parts of a bieltti machine and how it works on fantes.com or at this link: http://www.fantes.com/espresso-stovetop.html. You can get one just about anywhere—mine came from World Market, but you can also get them at Target and the like for less than $50.

Grapes, sugar and water bubble away          Jublilee!

Yesterday at the studio, we shot a recipe for Grapes Jubilee. Not really expecting a lot as grapes typically cook up to a nice shade of gray, we were really surprised at how pretty it was--and tasty.  It’s seasonal, economical, healthy, almost fat-free, loaded with antioxidants from the grapes, and yummy. It's also easy. Here’s the recipe. Give it a try with the great Chilean grapes that are abundant in the stores now. It’s doubtful you’ll ever make Cherries Jubilee again.

Grapes Jubilee

Chilean grapes are an excellent variation on the cherry dessert created in celebration of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.  Victoria, who had a sweet tooth, would have loved this.

1/3 cup sugar

1 3/4 teaspoons cornstarch

1 cup cold water

3 cups seedless red grapes (about 1 pound)

Grated rind of 1 orange

1 1 /2 tablespoons brandy or apple juice

2 cups vanilla ice cream

1.  Combine sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan.  Stir in water.  Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until mixture comes to a full boil.

2.  Add grapes and boil briskly 4 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Add orange rind and kirsch and boil 1 minute.  

3.  Scoop ice cream into individual serving dishes and spoon grape sauce over tops.  Serves 4 to 6.

Recipe by Jean Kressy.