kayb

Black eyed pea cassoulet with farm-made smoked sausage and pork rillettes. Crittenden County Jail slaw (that's where I learned to make it, and no, I wasn't an inmate!) -- vinegar and mustard based slaw, very tart and very crunchy. That takes care of my menu tomorrow, but I'll also have fingerling potatoes with creme fraiche and caviar, and beer candied bacon, because they are the two ultimate munchies in the world, and one should start off the year with good munchies. Tonight, my hot NYE date is my 18-month-old grandson, so we'll probably have grilled cheese and animal crackers. Which is Just Fine. The companionship makes the meal!

I have an aebleskiver pan. Can highly recommend stuffing with a small slice of banana and three Reese's Pieces.

A seven-pound tenderloin (cooked too long; the fam wants medium!, but still good). Mashed potatoes. Sweet potato casserole (Southern holiday requirement) with streusel topping. Cranberry salad (another Southern holiday requirement). Coriander carrots. Yeast bread that did NOT do well, not that anyone missed it. Baked pears with blue cheese and balsamic vinegar. And the piece de resistance -- a white chocolate cherry cheesecake, which, if I do say so myself, knocked it out of the park.

The kids wanted "some good knives." I found a three-piece set of Shuns on www.cutleryandmore.com's clearance section. 8-inch nakiri, 6-inch utility, 4-inch parer. I will no longer have to curse the bad knives when I cook in their kitchen. I'm lusting for a Breville smart oven, but I have a dearth of electrical outlets in the kitchen. What I'd really LOVE to have is a good, easy way to organize and store spices.

Judiu, I used self-rising corn meal mix, but mixed it 1:1 with milk for a very thin batter; oil and egg the same as called for. The tomato mixture was diced tomatoes, chopped scallions and garlic, tossed together with a bit of olive oil and allowed to sit for an hour or so. Next time, I'll use some roasted garlic; I don't care for the almost metallic taste the raw garlic roasting at the high temp in the cornbread yields. Here's the recipe as it ran in the newspaper in Memphis: Savory Tomato Cornbread Cobbler 1 pound mixed-variety sweet cherry tomatoes, halved 2 cloves garlic, minced ½ teaspoon hot chile powder ¼ teaspoon celery salt ½ teaspoon kosher salt, divided use ¼ teaspoon ground cumin Finely grated zest and juice of ½ lime ¼ cup minced green onion, PLUS 2 tablespoons minced green tops for garnish ½ cup all-purpose flour ½ cup yellow cornmeal 2 teaspoons baking powder ½ cup (1 stick) butter 1 cup milk Place a 10-inch cast-iron skillet in the oven; heat to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes and garlic. In a small bowl, combine the chile powder, celery salt, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and cumin. Sprinkle mixture over the tomatoes. Stir in the lime zest and juice and ¼ cup of the minced green onion; set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, remaining kosher salt and baking powder. Once the skillet is hot, add the butter. Watch closely; when the butter is melted and bubbling, stir the milk into the flour mixture to form a thin, somewhat lumpy batter. Transfer the skillet to the stove top just long enough to pour in the batter, spreading it evenly. Immediately top with the tomato mixture. Return to the oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the cobbler is crisped on the edges and has started to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cut into wedges; serve hot or at room temperature, garnished with the minced green onion tops. Makes 6 to 8 servings. Variation: Tomato-Bacon Cobbler. Add 8 slices cooked, crumbled bacon to the tomato mixture just before baking. We cooked the bacon in the same iron skillet we used for baking the cobbler and adjusted the amount of butter to incorporate the bacon drippings into the cobbler. I did a half-sized version, and ignored the call for lime juice and zest because I didn’t have a lime. And added the Parmigiano.

I have a "cheater" praline recipe I've used for years; it's very difficult to tell from the real thing. It involves (gasp) Jello pudding 1 4.6 oz box Jello non-instant butterscotch pudding 1.5 cups packed brown sugar 1/2 cup evaporated milk 1 tbsp butter 2 cups toasted pecans combine the pudding mix, brown sugar, evap. milk and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the sugar and butter melt, cook without stirring until it reaches 238F on the candy thermometer. Remove from heat, stir in pecans. Beat until it begins to thicken and lose its gloss. Drop by tablespoonsful onto aluminum foil and allow to harden. Hard to tell from the real thing. This makes the thin, delicate praline that is not chewy.

I've been absent for, what, a year or more -- what a treat to open the thread and find many of the same fine cooks, and some new ones, posting! Wonderful dinners and recipes, all. A few recent dinners for me: Greek Beef: Recreated from what I had in a restaurant recently; good-quality deli sliced roast beef, topped with a relish of chopped artichokes, Kalamata and green pimiento stuffed olives, feta, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I had it over salad; tried this over rice. Will use some of the leftover relish (a keeper!) with some leftovers from the Christmas tenderloin, if there are any. Fried okra, purple hulled peas, sliced tomatoes, chicken and dressing A Southern favorite. Yes, that's the canned cranberry sauce. I love it with cornbread dressing. Rouladen No photo of the finished product, but grass-fed tenderized round steak wrapped around a kosher dill spear and a farm-made bratwurst, wrapped in bacon, browned and then braised in wine and beef broth with juniper berries, allspice berries, cloves and caraway seed. Tomato cobbler Thin cornbread batter (equal parts meal/flour to milk/egg/oil), with a topping of diced tomatoes, garlic, green onions spooned over; the whole thing topped with grated parmigiano and baked.

Water chestnuts instead of celery -- absolute genius! Never thought of bratwurst in meatloaf, either; I have some good farm-made brats I'll try in that. I usually do a barbecue bacon meatloaf (lots of bacon, barbecue spice and sauce), but this would be a marvelous switch. Thanks!

Some of my favorites -- fig and olive tapenade -- equal parts chopped dried figs, chopped olive, 1/2 part chopped capers, chopped fresh rosemary, balsamic vinegar, olive oil to make it the right texture. Wonderful on crostini over goat cheese. Bacon wrapped dates stuffed with either almonds or manchego. Fresh figs, quartered, stuffed with Stilton, drizzled with honey, broiled. My own oven--dried grape tomatos, skewered with fresh mozzarella and a basil leaf, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vineger. And those damned wasabi peas from the Chinese market!

I think I have added possibl 6 since my last post....

Ooooh. If you have not posted them elsewhere, may I please have details on pressure cooker risotto? I think I'm in love!

Peas, of most any variety, are wonderful things. One should serve them with fried okra and creamed corn and sliced tomatos. Meat be damned.

Ham. I'm Southern. With roasted asparagus, with lemon juice and parmigiano. Grilled pineapple. Potato salad. Very traditional, and I am cooking for one (plus the dog). Cooking with an eye toward repurposing later in the week.

Slightly beaten egg whites?

Yes, it's been forever since I posted. Yes, I'm still alive, emerging from work-induced hell. A couple of breakfasts recently. A Mickey-Mouse themed brunch for a two-year-old's birthday. Who doesn't love pigs in a blanket, particularly with good honey mustard?\ OK, it looks like the cat threw it up, but it's eggs scrambled with bacon, diced tomatos, diced yellow squash, and I'm-not-sure-what-all-else, accompanied by cheese grits. Worked. Latkes and a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese spread.

Oh, that's marvelous! Thank you!

b1os, the avocado souffle is the most astonishing thing I've seen in ages -- would you elaborate on rx, techique?

I am using, for the first time in my culinary career, caviar in my appetizers for the Super Bowl. It's Tobikko black pearl, wild-caught, flavored with wasabi, and I'd guess it's about a two-ounce jar. I think I paid somewhere around $16 for it at my local culinary and gourmet store. What I discovered, in topping two dozen tiny new potatos, cut in half and dabbed with creme fraiche, with a dab of caviar, is that caviar goes a LONG way. I used well less than half the caviar topping the potatos. So I have two questions, being that I won't have an occasion to make copious quantities of hors d'ouevres again for some period of time. 1. How long will caviar, now that it's been opened, keep in the refrigerator? 2. What are some good uses for it as an ingredient in a main course? It has a noticeable, but not overpowering, flavor of wasabi. I first sampled it with cream cheese and smoked salmon on a toast point, and that was excellent, but I'd love to showcase it in an entree. My apologies if there's already a caviar topic; I looked and didn't see one.

Making my way back to eGullet after several months' absence, only to find the bar's been moved higher than ever! Wonderful meals since 1/1/13; I think if I had to pick just one, it'd be the holiday beef Wellington, a dish to which I aspire one day. A few recent dinners: Meatballs and marinara sauce over polenta, with a salad of fresh mozzarella, roasted baby Roma tomatoes, and balsamic cream. White beans and ham. Unremarkable but for the fact this was a Broadbent country ham from Kentucky, and possibly the best country ham into which I have ever sunk a tooth. I got enthusiastic over the weekend and cooked a vaguely Germanic pork shoulder roast. Brined it for 24 hours in a brine of water, kosher salt, brown sugar, allspice and cider vinegar. Braised it in apple juice with dried cherries, onion and garlic. Served it with caramelized apples and onions, potato salad, and red cabbage. It was quite excellent. The brined roast The braised and finished with a honey and apple juice glaze roast in a 500-degree oven The well-filled plate!

mm84321, thanks for the carrot directions. I do them in a similar manner, with coriander, although I don't use the parchment. The combo of cinnamon and basil intrigues me!

It's awfully simple, but awfully good. .75 oz peach-infused simple syrup 1.5 oz good vodka Stir or shake well and pour over ice in a tall glass. Fill glass with sparkling water. Very cool and refreshing.

I picked up cherries at the market this morning. I've been playing with flavored simple syrups (well, I guess if it's flavored it's not simple, is it?). So I used about a cup of cherries and boiled them with some sugar and water. I'm going to use some, with some of the whole cherries, with some brandy and some sparkling water to make a cocktail. I'd think cherries in white vinegar, with a little sugar, and a bunch of chipotle, would be good.

Details, please? I love the sound of the flavor combination.

Fascinating blog. I know next to nothing about Denmark other than where it is and some vague bits of WWII history. Does its cuisine resemble any of that of its neighbors across the Gulf, or are there German influences from the south? Interesting that you can eat spelt bread and not wheat. A newly diagnosed celiac who is having to rethink the entire baking world, I thought spelt was, like wheat, banned. Is it not? And does it approximate wheat in taste and behavior? If you tell me it's safe, I'm off to the bulk store to load up on spelt flour.

This sounds like such a treat, and I do love Philadelphia. Unfortunately, my August is booked completely (the weekend in question, I'm in Phoenix and Tucson). I'll be watching for details of the 2013 event, and will plan to be there!