kayb

Snowcream!!!!

As we have welcomed March with the biggest snow of the year (between 8-10 inches, on top of an inch or so of sleet), I'm resorting to warm comfort foods. Last night it was vegetable beef soup accompanied by a pimiento cheese sandwich with bread and butter pickles on homemade white sandwich bread. I seem to have gone through the stew meat that was part of my quarter-steer I purchased last fall, but an exploration of the freezer yielded me a package of soup bones and one of beef shank, amusingly enough labeled "osso buco" by the butcher. I browned those and then boiled them with some aromatics; pulled off the meat, scooped the marrow from the shank, and added that to a pot with two cans of diced tomatoes, a sauteed onion and some garlic, two cups of the beef stock, a package of frozen mixed vegetables, two medium diced potatoes, and assorted spices. It was a little light on salt, but quite pleasing. The pimiento cheese spread is a Southern staple, and one of my very favorites -- 8 oz. each grated sharp cheddar and Velveeta (one of the two things for which I will use Velveeta), 1/2 cup diced pimiento peppers, 1/2 cup mayo, 1 tbsp cider vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp seasoned salt, 1/4 tsp cayenne. Finished it off with some blackberry pie (purchased at a bakery) and ice cream.

Terrifically busy last week so didn't do much except snack and heat leftovers, although I did enjoy some fine chargrilled oysters at a restaurant Monday. Shelby, must try stuffing meat loaf with cheese. Wish I had some venison. Wonderful meals, everyone. Now that snow has closed the world here in Arkansas, I am about to cook.

kanela -- what gorgeous purple peppers! How do they rank on the heat scale? Getting antsy for fresh tomatoes. Still a couple of months to wait. We'll have greenhouse tomatoes by May 1, hopefully.

Patrickamory, that is some gorgeous chili. Would go awfully well here, where it's been unusally frigid of late. Sometimes you just feel like meat and two. Well, three if you count the bread, I guess. And yes, that's probably an unhealthy amount of butter on the sweet potato. Not sure why my meatloaf fell apart. Still tasted good, though. Edamame succotash, with corn I froze last summer, on the side. A real comfort food meal.

My standard, go-to white bread. It works for sandwiches, toast, whatever you wish, and you can also use the same dough to make dinner rolls or sweet rolls. Comes from a recipe handed down through a church cookbook. If anyone wants it, it's here. Was planning to make pimiento cheese to go on it, but I haven't gotten that done yet.

I have never tried sous vide eggs, but I can testify to the peeling of fresh farm eggs, which are notoriously more difficult to peel than older eggs or grocery store eggs. I've found that if I take my eggs directly from the hot water, drain them, crack the shells all over, and then peel underneath running water, they will peel cleanly. I'm generally doing mine hard-boiled to devil or for salads, though, so I'm not sure how well this would work with soft-boiled. If it DID work and you peeled the egg, could you then return it to the 55C bath to bring back to serving temp?

I ignored the stretch and fold instructions the first time because I simply overlooked them, and I treated the dough as I would any other yeast dough. They worked fine for me, so that's what I've done ever since. I was at Columbia for dinner. As I recall, there's a separate dining room with a raised dance floor, off the main dining room, and that's where the performances take place. We were seated in the other dining room, but we went in and stood by the wall to watch for a bit before we left. I ordered their cookbook from Amazon, and have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Pizza with roasted cherry tomatoes, bacon, caramelized onion and garlic, parmigiano and mozzarella. I don't like my pizza crust very dark; just barely done.

ElsieD, the recipe I use is here. I usually use vegetable shortening instead of lard, because I don't normally have lard on hand. And my loaves/rolls must be bigger than theirs, as I only get four from the recipe. One roll/loaf makes two sandwiches. I LOVED Columbia the one time I went there. Did you watch the flamenco dancers?

gfweb -- use those pullet eggs for Scotch eggs! I use quail eggs when I can get them, but I don't have a consistent supply. Haven't been in breakfast mode of late. Made bran muffins one weekend morning, enjoyed with an unhealthy amount of butter: And another couple of mornings, it was a very basic quiche -- eggs, cream, chopped ham, Emmenthaler. I don't bake my quiches in a crust; got out of the habit when I was baking them for my daughter, who has celiac disease and must be gluten-free. This wasn't as good as I thought it would be; I didn't salt the eggs because it's been my experience the cheese and ham add enough salt. This time, they did not.

Besides the French bread posted in the Dinner thread, I've recently made this brioche: I keep thinking I ought to like brioche, but I just really don't. It crumbles too easily. This is my standard white bread, which is a soft and fluffy one, great for toast but not so much for sandwiches: My favorite for sandwiches is pan Cubano, here: Need to make some of that this week, as I am making Cuban sandwiches for a lunch gathering next week.

Oh, Lord, Shelby. Cracklin' cornbread. Be still my heart. Particularly in early fall, when there's new sorghum molasses. Bacon, cracklin' cornbread, sorghum and home-canned tomatoes. Can't beat it. It's been snowy and cold and unpleasant, so I've been hibernating and baking. Yesterday it was French bread and scalloped onion dip, which served nicely for dinner.

Pigs in blankets are hard to beat. May be my breakfast today!

An improvised chicken dish last night -- boneless, skinless thighs baked in a sauce made of tomato garlic viniagrette dressing I'd bought from a local restaurant mixed into some plain yogurt, seasoned with some worcestershire and horseradish. It looked rather like Thousand Island dressing when I got through whisking it up. Covered the thighs, baked at 350 for 90 minutes, until they fell apart. Accompanied it with some potato salad. Not half bad. Not photogenic, though, so I didn't take pics.

I buy the three-pound bag of peeled garlic cloves at Sam's; there are no Costcos in Arkansas. I poach mine in olive oil until they're tender, then ladle them into a plastic tub with a tight lid, covering them with the olive oil. Use them for anything i'd use any kind of garlic for. I don't care for the taste of uncooked garlic, as in a dressing or such -- it has a metallic taste I just don't like. But this stuff? Astounding.

joiei, I think you're speaking of DeValls Bluff, between Memphis and Little Rock off I-40, and yes, I'm a fan of both Craig's BBQ and the Pie Shop. Craig's is good, but far from the best in a 100-mile radius. You MUST try Jones BBQ in Marianna, if you can find it, and if you can get there before 11 a.m., because he'll sell out shortly after that, and when he does, he's done for the day. They're the recipient of a James Beard American Classic award, and the barbecue is FINE. Would also recommend you go to Blytheville, on I-55 just south of the MO line, where there are several excellent barbecue places; it's about an hour from Memphis. In Memphis, my favorites, in no particular order, are Central, Interstate, Cozy Corner (hopefully they'll soon reopen from the fire!), Payne's and Bar-B-Q shop. Commissary would make my second five. Love their deviled eggs, too. Bar-B-Q shop is the only one of those where I've had decent brisket.

I've lived most of my adult life around Memphis, and I firmly adhere to the "Memphis is the center of the barbecue universe" school. KC barbecue, that I've tried at least, is generally sweeter, and has a "heavier" taste. I like it, but not as well as Memphis. Texas barbecue is, of course, beef and thus Does Not Count . Memphis 'cue counts strongly on the dry rub (assorted peppers, salt, garlic, allspice, oregano, and so on) and is usually basted during cooking with a vinegar-based sauce, with a different, tomato-based sauce used for serving, if desired. The Memphis in May International Barbecue Cooking Championship is one of the two major barbecue competition sanctioning organizations. You either cook on the "Memphis Circuit" or the "Kansas City Circuit."

A slice of beer cheese bread (Anna's recipe; thanks, Anna!) spread with some Fromade d'Affinois. And a cup of Brazil Estate coffee.

A little bar in Memphis made the best hummus I ever had. I finally asked what the flavor was that I couldn't identify. Allspice.

Organizing some photos and came across this one from a brunch I did back last fall. The recipe comes from the Serious Eats blog, and involves making latkes, sauteeing pastrami long enough just to heat it up, stacking a couple of latkes, some pastrami, a poached egg (I fried mine), and dousing the entire thing in Hollandaise sauce. It's wonderful. It's also about a million calories and a ton and a half of cholesterol, and it's really hard to eat more than half a serving because it's so rich. Moderately complex preparation, but a fairly impressive Wow factor for brunch, especially if you have big eaters on hand.

A weekend dinner: Delta tamales are different from Mexican tamales (see link), and the traditional way to enjoy them is with chili, cheese and diced onion. I don't care for raw onion, so I leave that off. The tamales are from one of the iconic Arkansas Delta tamale joints; the chili is my own. Edited to include: Served with arepas.

Didn't take any photos, but had friends over for dinner Friday night and made a paella with chorizo (cured, not fresh) and shrimp. Served it with a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley and mint wtih olives, feta cheese, scallions and a lemon-garlic viniagrette, and sauteed green beans to which I added a spoonful of what was sold as piquillo pepper bruschetta topping. Added a sprinkle of smoked paprika to that. It was quite successful.

Yep, this will make an appearance at my house this weekend as well. Thanks, Anna.

If you go, let me know. Will try to go over and meet you there.