A taste of the Delta

The new book “Eat Drink Delta: A Hungry Traveler’s Journey Through the Soul of the South” (The University of Georgia Press, $24.95) is a  travel guide, history lesson, foodways chronicle and, most of all, a love letter from author Susan Puckett to a region that is often stereotyped.

Most people think of catfish and the blues when they consider the Mississippi Delta. But Puckett, an Atlanta food journalist, shows that kibbeh and tamales are as much a part of the area’s food as fried green tomatoes.

Thankfully for those of us from hillier areas, she clearly defines the Delta. And she makes a good case for her claim that it’s “The Most Southern Food on Earth.”

A good garnish of recipes share space with colorful descriptions of restaurants and festivals, and the people who share their good food. The book also answers a burning question I’ve had for a while: What the heck are Kool-Aid pickles?

I know people say all the time that a particular book is as much fun to read as to cook from, but that’s really the case here. The detail is excellent, and shows that a lot of work went into this book.

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Debbie Moose, April 2nd 2013 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Cool Cookbooks, Life and Food in the South

Word to your deviled eggs

When I was a kid, my father used to stroll around the house performing an early precursor to rap. He was quite a visionary performer, actually, to have foretold the popularity of spoken-word singing. He also prepared me for unsavory song content by teaching me the words to “Mack the Knife” at age 10. I can still sing every one, scarlet billows and all.

But when Easter approached, he sent Mackie out of town in favor of his rap-like ditty with a BOOM-da-da, da-da; BOOM-da-da, da-da; BOOM-da-da, da-da; BOOM-da-da beat: “Easter time is the time for eggs, and the time for eggs is Easter time.”

But bunnies seemed to be the bosses of the Easter world, so I spent my childhood a bit confused about how rabbits produced eggs.

Anyway, no matter where they came from, eggs were what we rapped about. Maybe that’s why I wrote an entire cookbook of recipes for deviled eggs. This one makes a beautiful deviled egg that will surprise people at your Easter dinner – it’s not the usual pickle relish. Definitely worth rapping about.

Lox and Eggs

6 hard-cooked eggs, peeled, cut in half and yolks mashed in a bowl

2 tablespoons sour cream

2 teaspoons whipped cream cheese

1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons chopped smoked salmon

1 1/2 teaspoons grated onion

Salt and black pepper to taste

Drained capers for garnish

Combine the thoroughly mashed yolks with the sour cream, cream cheese and mustard. Stir in the smoked salmon and onion. Taste, then season with salt and pepper. Fill the whites evenly with the mixture and garnish each egg half with 3 or 4 capers.

Makes 12

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Debbie Moose, March 27th 2013 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Life and Food in the South, Recipes and Other Kitchen Insanity

Greetings from the asylum

If it’s March Madness, then I’m planning to feed the inmates well. When the ACC Tournament starts tomorrow, the odd sausage ball will be thrown here, the occasional adult beverage will be consumed there. But the occasion just screams for dip.

A friend, who is as nutty as I am, hosted a lunch-game viewing a couple of years ago. In an excess of patriotism, she tried to create a Carolina Blue onion dip. It was….um…interesting. It tasted like the usual onion dip, but it’s amazing how the color changes one’s perception of one’s food.

I like a good onion dip, and I’ve been trying to avoid the guilty salt-lick pleasure of the onion soup variety. I came up with this recipe for my new book, “Buttermilk: A Savor the South Cookbook,” published by the University of North Carolina Press. Just keep away the food coloring.

Roasted Sweet Onion and Garlic Dip

1 sweet onion, such as Vidalia

1 head garlic

Olive oil

1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons sour cream

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground mustard

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lay out 2 doubled pieces of aluminum foil. Place the onion in one piece and the garlic in the other and drizzle both with a little olive oil. Wrap each one tightly, place them on a baking sheet, and roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The onion may take slightly longer to roast than the garlic. Remove each from the foil and let cool to room temperature or wrap tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Remove the outer skin from the roasted onion and place the onion in a blender. Press the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins and add them to the blender. Add the dill, thyme, buttermilk, sour cream, salt, pepper and ground mustard. Puree until smooth. Cover and refrigerate.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

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Debbie Moose, March 13th 2013 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Life and Food in the South, Uncategorized

Oy vey, Brussels sprouts

I am convinced that my friend Brenda is a reincarnated Jewish grandmother. When she invited The Hub and me for dinner recently, she spread out enough food for 20 and was concerned that we barely made a dent in it all.

She cooked Brussels sprouts in a way that I’d never seen before – and I’ve seen some sprouts; I love them. She cooked them with a combination of broiling and steaming  that resulted in Brussels sprouts that were tender and not overcooked, just “al dente.” Of course, she just throws things together (like all good reincarnated Jewish grandmothers) and didn’t have a recipe, but I re-created the dish from her description.

It was also my first time using grapeseed oil, and I like its nutty flavor. Brenda used it just because someone gave it to her and she wanted to use it. It has a higher smoke point than olive oil and that may help in this recipe, too.

The only big caution I have is to watch the vegetables carefully, and shake or stir often to avoid burning. Because Brenda’s sprouts didn’t have a single toasted leaf.

The Reincarnated Jewish Grandmother’s Brussels Sprouts

About 1 pound of Brussels sprouts

Half of a red onion

Grapeseed oil

Salt and pepper

Cut the Brussels sprouts into halves or quarters, whatever makes all the pieces close to the same size. Thinly slice the red onion. Put both in a shallow roasting pan and toss with a liberal amount of oil. Place under the oven broiler and cook, tossing or stirring frequently, for 3 or 4 minutes, until you start to see them possibly brown. But don’t let them brown. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and put in a heatproof bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. The vegetables will steam to tenderness. Let them sit as long as you like – this dish is good at room temperature as well as hot – but they will need to sit for at least 20 minutes.

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Debbie Moose, March 5th 2013 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in Recipes and Other Kitchen Insanity

All summer in March

In the neighborhood outside Winston-Salem where I grew up, every backyard had a sizable garden, and every garden had tomatoes. By midsummer, when the tomatoes were flowing into kitchens like red snowballs in an avalanche, kids would be dispatched to leave them on other people’s back stoops. This was the annual tomato-go-round, where my parents would send extra tomatoes to people who had already sent their surplus tomatoes to someone who dropped off their spare tomatoes at our house.

If a book like Miriam Rubin’s had existed then, it would have ground the tomato-go-round to a halt because no one would have been willing to give up a single orb before trying all 50 recipes within it. “Tomatoes: A Savor the South Cookbook” (University of North Carolina Press, $19) includes savory tomato pie, tapenade, salads, soups, pickles, a tomato cake and more.

I’m glad to see that she knows the proper place to eat a tomato sandwich (over the sink) and that Southern-style  tomato gravy isn’t the kind found in Italian restaurants. Canned tomatoes work well in many of the recipes, giving options when summer is over. She also suggests what I’ve been telling tomato fans to do for years: When the avalanche hits, chop up those tomatoes and freeze them.

I believe that a cookbook about peaches in which the first recipe is for peach ice cream has its priorities straight. Such is the case with “Peaches: A Savor the South Cookbook” by Kelly Alexander (University of North Carolina Press, $19).

In fact, the book unashamedly begins with desserts and works its way through other ways to use peaches, including an intriguing Peach Tempura and the green peach salad from Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill (which I have enjoyed). Alexander amply recognizes the wonderful uses for peaches in beverages. And I can’t say that I’ve ever read a cookbook before that quotes Sir Thomas More.

There’s a great variety of recipes. My only wish is that she had mentioned how to freeze summer peaches at home and where frozen peaches might work in some of the recipes. Seems to me they might work in the Tangy Peach Barbecue Sauce if I crave it in November. I am all for extending peach season, and this book makes me want peaches now.

These just-released books are the latest in UNC Press’ Savor the South series of small books on Southern ingredients. This fall will bring books on biscuits and bourbon. And in the interest of full disclosure, I wrote “Buttermilk,” one of the first two books.

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Debbie Moose, March 4th 2013 | Posted in Cool Cookbooks, Life and Food in the South

Some sweet dough

entries in sugarland’s cupcake contest

Here’s some advice: If you want to get as much of a particular food that you could possibly want, just publicly tell people you don’t like it. It must be the same cosmic law that makes cats go straight for the laps of the one person in the room who hates them.

Ever since I wrote a column proclaiming that I see no point in the cupcake, I have been asked to judge cupcake contests. “You know I’ve said in print that I don’t like them, right?” I tell the supplicants. But they are ever hopeful that their cupcakes will be the ones that bring me over to the side of goodness and light.

Add in that the contest will benefit charity, and I can’t say no. That’s what happened this week when Sugarland bakery in Raleigh held a contest that would bring a donation to the winner’s designated charity. It was a pro-am arrangement, with pastry chefs paired with local notables: Larry Fedora, University of North

morgan’s non-pro footwear

Carolina at Chapel Hill football coach; Debra Morgan, WRAL-TV personality; Mike Wheless of WQDR; and The Biggest Loser’s Ed Brantley and Heba Salama.

Each team received a basket of North Carolina products from which to craft their cupcakes. Fedora’s team got Chapel Hill Toffee, Top of the Hill Stout, Vintage Bee Cinnamon Honey, Chapel Hill Creamery goat cheese and – believe it or not – Neal’s Deli pastrami. For Morgan, it was Videri pink peppercorn chocolate, Larry’s Beans coffee, Fullsteam’s Working Man’s Lunch beer, Southern Season marshmallow creme and cheddar cheese spread from the Angus Barn. Wheless worked with sweet potatoes, pecans, bacon, Mount Olive sweet pickle relish and scuppernong wine. That left Brantley and Salama with Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Texas Pete, Moravian spice cookies, wine from Biltmore and Pepsi.

Points were deducted for not using all the ingredients (which I desperately hoped Fedora wouldn’t; I would’ve given him points for leaving out the pastrami). My two fellow judges and I did the main judging, and those present (the contestants could invite 20 people each) did a people’s choice.

The combination of chocolate and coffee flavors made Morgan’s team the clear winner of the four. Adding the cheese to the buttercream frosting made it stand up in firm swirls, but didn’t give it a cheese flavor. Morgan split the $1,000 prize between the Caring Community Foundation and Alzheimer’s N.C. Wheless’s creation was the fan favorite, earning a professional version the right to appear on Sugarland’s menu in March. Sugarland will donate 75 cents of each of the cupcakes sold to Wheless’ charity, Communities in Schools of Wake County.

After the contest, Sugarland decided to give $500 to each of the other three contestants’ charities, including Fedora’s, N.C. Children’s Hospital; and Brantley and Salama’s, Pay It Forward Fertility Foundation.

It was a delightful time and made some sweet dough for some good charities.

But, sorry, cupcakes….I’d still rather set my own serving size of cake.

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Debbie Moose, March 1st 2013 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in Life and Food in the South

Loafing around

breads at la farm bakery in cary

The idea of a bread tasting had never occurred to me, but when the breads are as unique and layered in flavor as fine wine, why not?  Lionel Vatinet offered the tasting of breads from his upcoming book at La Farm Bakery in Cary, which he opened in 1999.

Instructions to make the breads will be featured in “A Passion for Bread: Lessons From a Master Baker – Seven Steps to Making Great Bread” which will be published in November. It will be the first book for Vatinet, who trained in France (where he apprenticed for seven years) and San Francisco. The book is full of photos that show each step of the process for novice bakers, part of Vatinet’s goal of helping home cooks make beautiful fresh loaves.

We started with Vatinet’s classic 5-pound boule. And I found out why the sourdough-flavored loaf is so large. The recipe, Vatinet said, goes back to the tradition of communal ovens in small French villages. Villagers would bake loaves large enough to last their families for several days, and would mark each loaf with an identifying crest.

My previous experiences with all-whole-wheat breads has been that they were suitable for sanding down furniture. Vatinet’s was soft and flavorful, and he uses North Carolina grown and milled flour from a newly opened mill near Asheville, Carolina Ground.

Beaujolais replaced water in another bread that included chunks of salami. But, of course, my attention was drawn to a bread using cornmeal, onions, chives and buttermilk. I’m thinking that this fine-textured bread would make the base for a great grilled cheese sandwich or interesting in a savory bread pudding, if it hung around long enough to get stale.

Many of these breads are not regularly available at the bakery, but Vatinet says he will offer them more often once the book comes out.

He had taught baking classes at La Farm for years, and enjoys passing on knowledge. “People want that touch with the earth from making the bread,” he says.

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Debbie Moose, February 20th 2013 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Life and Food in the South

Don’t hold the mayo

chocolate mayonnaise cake

Every Valentine’s Day needs chocolate, and when I posted the photo of this dessert on my Food Writer Debbie Moose Facebook page, requests came in for the recipe.

It’s so simple, and has an interesting history. Chocolate cake using mayonnaise instead of butter and milk became popular as a cost saver during the Depression, and it was also popular during the rationing period of World War II. It makes a devil’s food-like cake that is so simple, kids can make it. In fact, I demonstrated this recipe for a group of teachers at a teachers’ seminar focusing on WWII.

The only caveat is don’t overbake it to prevent dryness. I added a drizzle of melted bittersweet chocolate to make it even more of a Valentine’s Day treat.

This recipe makes enough to fill a 9- by 13-inch baking dish, but I used an oversized muffin pan to make six individual cakes.  I cooked the remaining batter in a smaller baking dish, dusted the resulting large cake with powdered sugar and gave it to my neighbor, who has two kids and is expecting a third – just to spread the Valentine’s Day love (and get the calories out of my kitchen).

I adapted this from a recipe in “The American Century Cookbook” by Jean Anderson.

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

2 cups flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used a super-dark cocoa)

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3 eggs

1 2/3 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup mayonnaise

1 1/3 cups cold coffee or water (coffee adds more flavor)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9- by 13-inch baking dish or equivalent muffin tins, etc., with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a portable electric mixer) combine the eggs, sugar and vanilla. Beat on high speed 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the mayonnaise just until blended. With the mixer on low speed, stir in the flour mixture in 4 additions alternately with the coffee or water, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Pour into prepared pans and bake 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the pan (the muffins will take less time). Bake just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean; do not overbake. Cool for 15 minutes or so, then remove from the pans and cool completely before frosting, drizzling with melted chocolate or dusting with powdered sugar.

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Debbie Moose, February 15th 2013 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Recipes and Other Kitchen Insanity

I’m blue and I’m proud

“They may not do so good tonight,” said the woman in my aerobics class who was wearing a shirt the same shade of light blue as mine. “That’s why they play the game,” I loudly responded. “You never know what will happen!” Two other women dressed in neutral colors, attracted by my vehemence, came over and said, “It’s just a game.”

No, it’s not.

It’s the reason for stocking my freezer with sausage balls. (They’re expressive projectiles AND snacks!) It’s why the house rule is that all present must shout “Ferret! Ferret! Ferret!” whenever Coach K’s face appears on the TV screen. It’s why The Hub will come home tonight and ceremonially don the lucky Carolina Blue argyle socks.

It’s Carolina-Dook. Yes, that’s “Dook.”

My father and I were basketball nuts together. My mother never got it, never understood why he and I would spend an hour on the phone talking about something that happened three nights earlier. She really didn’t understand why he once drove three hours on icy roads to Raleigh because I’d gotten tickets for the two of us to the Dean Dome. Or why, as a child, he tried to convince me that they called him Dean Smith because he was dean of the whole school.

Recent developments indicate that he might not have been too wrong about that last part. I know that college basketball is riddled with problems that need to be solved and as a graduate, I do resent the cheapening of college degrees by allowing athletes to take no-show classes and other such things.

But I need one thing in my life that I can be childish and stupid about. Just one. Please. About everything else in my existence, I’m a grownup.  I do weight-bearing exercise, try to eat more kale, save for retirement, meet book deadlines, avoid drinking to excess, make sure my cats’ rabies shots are current and get my car’s oil changed on time.

Those few hours from November through March when I become a screaming, trashy-food-eating, in-the-moment crazy woman are my right. I’ve earned them.

So, no, it’s not just a game. Especially if the Heels win.

 

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Debbie Moose, February 13th 2013 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Life and Food in the South

A taste of the coast

In the mail today, The Hub and I received the confirmation letter from the place on the Outer Banks where we spend a much-anticipated week each spring. Every year, that letter and Girl Scout cookies keep us going through the messy end of a North Carolina winter.

Now I have something else to help me hold on: “The Outer Banks Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from North Carolina’s Barrier Islands” by Elizabeth Wiegand. It’s a heartfelt book for those who love that little strip of shifting sand and the good things served there.

There are recipes for everything that comes from the water, from traditional dishes like Hatteras-style clam chowder (no cream) to more modern contributions such as Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Carolina Shrimp or Soft-Shell BLT using soft-shell crabs. There’s information on traditions including Old Christmas and Outer Banks windmills, even a few things I didn’t know about (mullet roe as “Ocracoke caviar”?) Weigand also offers step-by-step instructions for doing your own oyster roast.

Weigand is a veteran food writer who provides clear instructions in her recipes. The book has a nice mix of simple recipes and more complicated ones from coastal restaurants. My only gripe is that the fractions are a little small for my bifocaled eyes.

There are a number of recipes that I’m looking forward to trying, but this one tapped my urge for salty breezes and nothing to worry about but which book I’ll read. I’ll tuck that confirmation letter in my pocket while I’m making it.

Wasabi Sesame Tuna

1 tablespoon wasabi paste (mix equal parts wasabi powder and water) or to taste

1/3 cup soy sauce

4 tuna steaks, 1 1/4 inches thick

1/2 cup black and white sesame seeds

1/4 cup olive oil

An additional mixture of 1 tablespoon wasabi paste as a condiment

Cucumber Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

Mix together the wasabi and soy sauce in a nonmetallic bowl.

Place tuna in a shallow baking casserole and pour wasabi-soy marinade over. Allow to marinate for 5 to 6 minutes.

Place sesame seeds in a small, shallow dish. Place each tuna steak on top, pressing to coat each with seeds on one side only.

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat. when hot, add tuna, seed-side down; sear until seeds are browned, about 2 to 3 minutes. Turn tuna over and cook for just another minute, until tuna is still soft and red in center. (It will continue to cook when off the heat.)

Serve immediately with Cucumber Vinaigrette and additional wasabi paste.

Cucumber Vinaigrette

1 cup peeled, seeded and cubed cucumber

1/2 red onion, diced

1/4 each sweet red and yellow pepper, diced

1 red tomato, diced

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

Pinch of sugar

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Allow flavors to meld at room temperature for about an hour. Refrigerate any leftovers.

 

 

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Debbie Moose, February 11th 2013 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Cool Cookbooks, Recipes and Other Kitchen Insanity
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