The 100th Fan Contest

My friend, Jed Weiss, in Brooklyn, NY won the 100th Facebook Fan contest! Congrats, Jed! Isn't his little girl adorable?!
What does he win, you say? Well, now that you mention it, he wins the BEST EVER Banana Bread!! Delivered right to his door courtesy of the USPS!!!
Thanks to everyone who posted my page on their Facebook walls, ahem, my mother and my cousin-once-removed. You guys really know how to make a girl feel special!

Family & Dumplings

So you know when you're just having a hard time and home is 3,000 miles away? When the place you live will never feel like a breeze swaying the Spanish moss or sound like cicada humming their way through your day or rain cooling off your afternoon?

My family, as far away as they are, came through for me this week. Even relatives that I'm not all that close to, went out of their way to try and help me out. I think I need to call out to home more often, hearing those accents, ones tinged with country, while they make me ache, are also a comfort. Letting me know that yes, they're still there and I can 'come on home' anytime I want.

Well maybe you've never left home or maybe home became somewhere other than the place you were born, but we all have food that reminds us of home - wherever that is or however you choose to define it.
A food that reminds me of family is dumplings. My Momma makes big fat ones and my grandmother made small, noodle-like dumplings. Both were/are delicious.
I found this recipe for Chicken n' Dumplings on Smitten Kitchen a couple of years ago and it's one of my favorite dishes to cook for guests.

Chicken and Dumplings with Leeks and Tarragon
From Smitten Kitchen via Cook’s Illustrated
CI notes that you should not use low-fat or fat-free milk in this recipe, and that you should start the dumpling dough only when you’re ready to top the stew with the dumplings.

Serves 6 to 8
Stew
5 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Table salt and ground black pepper
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
2 medium leeks , white and llight green parts only, cut in half lengthwise and then into 1-inch pieces
1 large onion, minced
6 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup dry sherry
4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
1 cup frozen green peas
3 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon leaves

Dumplings
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons reserved chicken fat (or unsalted butter)

1. For the stew: Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add half of the chicken and cook until golden on both sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and remove the browned skin. Pour off the chicken fat and reserve. Return the pot to medium-high heat and repeat with the remaining 2 teaspoons oil and the remaining chicken. Pour off and reserve any chicken fat.
2. Add the butter to the Dutch oven and melt over medium-high heat. Add the leeks, onion, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in the flour. Whisk in the sherry, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in the broth, milk, thyme, and bay leaves. Nestle the chicken, with any accumulated juices, into the pot. Cover and simmer until the chicken is fully cooked and tender, about 1 hour.
3. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Discard the bay leaves. Allow the sauce to settle for a few minutes, then skim the fat from the surface using a wide spoon. Shred the chicken, discarding the bones, then return it to the stew.
4. For the dumplings: Stir the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Microwave the milk and fat in a microwave-safe bowl on high until just warm (do not over-heat), about 1 minute. Stir the warmed milk mixture into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon until incorporated and smooth.
5. Return the stew to a simmer, stir in the peas and tarragon, and season with salt and pepper. Following the steps below, drop golf-ball-sized dumplings over the top of the stew, about 1/4 inch apart (you should have about 18 dumplings). Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the dumplings have doubled in size, 15 to 18 minutes. Serve.

To make the dumplings: Gather a golf-ball-sized portion of the dumpling batter onto a soup spoon, then push the dumpling onto the stew using a second spoon. Cover the stew with the dumplings, leaving about 1/4 inch between each. When fully cooked, the dumplings will have doubled in size.

It's "Chocolate Mint Insanity!"

Have you ever had a Mystic Mint cookie? I'm really sorry if you haven't. Nabisco used to make them and for some reason, at our Publix, they were always on the top shelf. At first, they always had them, then they became seasonal, and now they're flat out discontinued. Oh they were so good! My father and I especially loved them frozen.
For whatever reason, as I was filling an order for homemade "oreos", I felt compelled to tweak the recipe and make them "Mystic Mint"-style.

I added a little peppermint extract to the cream. I then made a chocolate glaze which I also added peppermint to. It's just one of those things you
have no idea will work or not, but you just have to do it. I popped those bad boys into the freezer for full effect.

Luckily for me, and Mystic Mint fans everywhere, they did work out. Deliciously.
I offered one to Julie my neighbor for taste-testing and she recommended the name, "Chocolate Mint Insanity", which I kinda like. I wish my Dad was there to try them out, too. He's got final say.

It All Began with a Bake Sale...

I've moved my old blog (KitchenLab) over to Buffington Road so that everything ties in nicely.
Let me know what you think! If you could 'follow' my blog, I would be most obliged!

Southern Appalachian Blackberry Dumplings

I heard about this book, "Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, & Scuppernong Wine: The Folklore and Art of Southern Appalachian Cooking" and immediately checked it out at the library. My mother's family hails from Southern Appalachia (Appalachia with an 'a' like 'cat'), specifically Western North Carolina, so of course my interest was peaked.

I quickly whipped up a batch of "Bryson City Cathead Biscuits" because I'm a part of the Bryson clan. I also made the "Sylva-Style Potatoes" the same day as I made these utterly delicious blackberry dumplings. My friend, Talia, was joining me for a spur of the moment home-cooked meal, so what better way to treat her than with some Appalachian specialties? She brought her healthy and tasty Veggie (sort of) Chili to round out the feast.

After we finished our chili and potatoes, I got to work on the dumplings. The blackberries I had procured from the luscious Wednesday Santa Monica Farmer's Market amidst chef chatter and the unmistakable voice of Laura Avery. This market is so good for the soul!

This was probably one of the easiest desserts I've ever made. If you like cobbler, you'll love these dumplings as it's basically cobbler made on the stove top rather than in the oven.

Bessie’s Blackberry Dumplings from the Smithsonian Folklife Cook Book via  “Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread & Scuppernong Wine: The Folklore and Art of Southern Appalachian Cooking” by Joseph E. Dabney

1 quart blackberries

1 ¼ cups sugar

2 cups water

Dough:

3 to 4 cups self-rising flour

½ cup buttermilk

1 cup shortening

½ cup milk

To make dumplings, fill a large mixing bowl almost full with sifted flour and make a hole in the middle. Mix in buttermilk, milk and shortening. Knead dough, then tear off pieces. Bring blackberries, sugar and water to a boil. Drop in dumpling dough. Cover and simmer until dough is done.

*I cut this recipe in half because a quart of blackberries was too expensive.

I used one small tray of blackberries, 2/3 cup sugar, ½ cup shortening, ¼ cup milk, ¼ cup buttermilk, and 2 cups White Lily Self-Rising flour. I would venture to say that butter would be a delicious substitute for shortening if you don't have trans-fat free version handy.

Easter Lunch: Asparagus, Leek and Gruyere Quiche

Now is the time to stop putting off making your own pie crust. Well, that's what I told myself a few days ago. The joys of working with all kinds of dough are quickly becoming apparent to me. I think the more I work with flour, water, yeast, salt, sometimes butter, sometimes lard, sometimes egg, the more fascinated I become with the all the crazy chemistry that's going on from one recipe to the next. I never considered myself much of a scientist but I have to face the fact that I am dabbling in a kind of alchemy that is more often than not, quite edible.

This quiche is perfect for spring, making brilliant use of two of my favorite vegetables - asparagus and leeks. The flavor is rich and satisfying. I think a mushroom variety of this recipe would work also work well.

Here's the recipe >

Ms. Stewart's pie crust recipe calls for only 4 tablespoons of ice water, but I had to add double that. I looked at other recipes that called for 1/4 cup. So use your discretion. When you think the dough is coming together nicely, stop adding water.

Drop Biscuits

When I was home over Christmas, I went through my mother's old Betty Crocker red recipe box. I adore it. Its stuffed full with all kinds of recipes my mother has collected for lord knows how many years. The recipe cards that came with the box and in monthly installments have long since been thrown out, but the box remains.

In the recipe box, I found many biscuit recipes. One was a handwritten recipe, author unknown and humbly titled "Biscuits". The recipe was so simple and utterly different from the myriad of other biscuits recipes that I've tried. It didn't call for chilled butter (in fact, the butter is melted!) or folding methods or rising or rolling out of the dough. And...it only has 3 ingredients! This recipe exemplifies the 'drop biscuit', meaning you mix up the batter and dollop onto the baking pan. It is so stinking easy and delicious, that to be honest, who really needs chilled butter and rolling pins?

Biscuits

2 cups self-rising flour (I used White Lily)
8 oz sour cream
1 stick of butter

Melt butter, stir in sour cream. Add flour. Mix thoroughly.
Drop into hot buttered muffin tins. (I used a warmed glass pie dish, as you can see)
Bake at 375 deg until golden.