kayb

I do it when I want something different, when "nothing sounds good," or when I don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. It's often a frittata, an omelet, or a quiche. Occasionally pancakes. When I was a kid, pancakes for dinner had cherry sauce, as opposed to pancakes for dinner that had syrup. Oh, and bacon was always a breakfast (or bfd) meat, with two exceptions: the ubiquitous BLT, which I still adore, and bacon, canned tomatos, cracklin' cornbread and "new sorghum," when the first sorghum molasses of the season was available in the fall. I can taste it now....

1. Always more garlic. 2. A bit of sugar added to anything with canned tomatos. 3. Always omit the bell pepper and celery (hate 'em!). This makes stuff interesting when cooking Cajun. I'll typically use some green onions, and maybe a mild Anaheim chili.

Bumping this up with a bit of shameless promotion for a local company. Smith's, which has operated in Hot Springs for 124 years, started out with whetstones and expanded into a broad range of sharpening products. They recently split their line to offer sharpeners for hunting/camping/etc., and those for the kitchen, the kitchen products being under the Edgeware brand. The Edgeware Mandoline is their first venture into actual cutting implements. As a hometown cook, I got an early trial of the slicer, which will be available via Williams Sonoma later this year, and is currently available at www.edgewareproducts.com. It's wonderful. Cast aluminum body, German steel blade, adjustable thickness with an easy-touch knob, comes with julienne and crinkle-cut blades. Will also carve a slice of your finger off in a heartbeat (I speak from experience). I think it looks like a Porsche.

Best reason in the world to move to Hot Springs, Arkansas -- you can buy double-yolked eggs at a store here, fresh from the hatchery (they specialize in broodstock, and so the double-yolkers go out for sale). I love, love, LOVE a double-yolked egg! It made this breakfast: Bacon that I overcooked, a biscuit with an indecently large dollop of fig jam, a smashed potato and one of those lovely, lovely eggs. I was a happy woman.

My new favorite: cucumbers, sliced thin on my new mandoline (!) with rice vinegar, mirin and ginger.

dcarch-- as always, beautiful plates! And I am so anxious to try the "souped-up" pesto; I have some red snapper filets in the freezer that I think may call for that. Prawn -- Gorgeous steak! Last night, a quick saute of corn, shrimp, basil and chives (didn't have scallions) in butter, with caprese salads, in which I can eat my weight. Thanks, Kim, for that recipe tip, and you're right, the whole is significantly more than the sum of the parts! One evening this week, it was a pizza. I tend to pile too much stuff on top, but, hey, it's all good. This one had tomatos, cucumbers, tomatos, fresh mozzarella, sheep's milk farmers market cheese, and grated parmesan. Mark Bittman's pizza dough recipe. And finally, there were grilled pork loin chops, squash gratin, black bean and corn salad, and the can't-get-enough-of-them caprese.

One thing I love to make when I have plenty of time is moussaka. My recipe here: http://kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/one-blog-post-two-disparate-topics/. It may be a bit heavy for a beach meal, but should be easy enough to make with locally available ingredients. With it, I love couscous with dried fruit, and a tomato and feta salad with dill. Another great one I tried last night is a saute' of fresh corn, shrimp, chives and basil in butter, served with caprese salads. Couldn't believe how good it was. Finally, depending on availability of grouper, there's nothing better than broiled grouper topped with a shrimp or crawfish etouffee.

Re: Barbecue nomenclature -- In Memphis barbecue circles, "barbecue" is pulled pork. Can be either whole hog or shoulder. Chicken cooked in similar fashion is "barbecue(d) chicken. Turkey, however, is smoked turkey; not sure why. Ribs are just ribs, the presumption being no one would be foolish enough to do anything with ribs other than barbecue them. Oh, and they're pork. Always. Beef, when you see it on a Memphis menu, and you do more and more, is "barbecue(d) beef." Likewise bologna (which is a thing of beauty, barbecued). Re: chickens. As a youngster, I was annually roped into helping with the annual American Cancer Society fundraising barbecue in my home town, where we generally cooked 1,500 chickens -- 3000 chicken halves -- and sold plates with chicken, slaw, beans and a roll for five bucks. (OK, it was a long time ago.) The cooking method was to grill about 24 inches above the bed of coals, flip every 30 minutes, and baste every time they were flipped with this sauce: 1 qt cider vinegar 1/2 cup salt 3/4 lbs butter 1 1/2 cup cooking oil 1 bottle Tabasco (small bottle) 1/2 bottle Worcestershire (small bottle) 1/2 tsp garlic powder This is from a 1964 University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service publication. I can't imagine that a half-teaspoon of garlic powder makes much difference in the overall taste, but I promise, that baste (applied liberally with a dish mop) did in fact turn out some succulently juicy barbecued chicken. Best I recall, it took about three hours for a half-chicken. I use this same basting sauce to cook my pork shoulders and/or Boston butts, if I'm not using a dry rub. But I like it better on chicken.

Not too unusual for barbecue joints in this part of the world. I suspect it's because they use a different sauce and cooking time, perhaps a hotter fire. Should have gone to Purity; they have it every day.

Bumping this thread up -- I'm about to take the plunge and corn my very first brisket, mostly because I'm jonesing for a good Reuben and some corned beef hash. I'm wondering, what other things are out there to make with corned beef? I'm not a fan of cooked cabbage, so about one meal of that should do me; one can only eat so many Reubens and hash-n-eggs. I know I can do meat pies, and that's a good potential. Other suggestions?

Bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. Cook up a pound of bacon at a time, in the morning when it's cooler, and keep it in the fridge to use when you want it.

While I have used my blender to make cheese dip (Velveeta, tomatos, chiles, cumin and garlic), mole sauce (more ingredients than I care to list), hollandaise (the lazy way) and assorted other stuff, I have come to recognize the highest and best use of the blender is for a watermelon mojito. 1/4 cup light rum 1/4 cup simple syrup 2 cups watermelon chunks 4-5 sprigs mint juice of one or two limes, depending on how juicy they are Whiz it until it's all nice and frothy, pour it over ice in two tall glasses, and top with club soda and a sprig of mint. Make a second blender-full before you drink the first ones, because you WILL want them.

Oh, my. I love the idea of that sandwich, and, being a fan of any and all kinds of potato salad, I MUST try this one soon!

Surf and turf. Sirloin steak, medium rare; broiled lobster tail; roasted broccoli with lemon and walnuts; new potatos with Vidalia onions, tarragon and dill. Great start to the long weekend that will feature burgers tonight, pernil tomorrow, and ribs on Monday. And the gallon pitcher of sangria in the fridge!

One that I did for a good-sized group for a brunch was an asparagus/cantaloupe salad. Roast however much asparagus you need (with just olive oil and s&p, and arrange it on a platter. Dice up a half a medium cantaloupe and 4 oz of fresh mozzarella for each pound of asparagus, and sprinkle that over the top. Top that with a lemon viniagrette, a sprinkle of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper, and some grated parmesan. Nice, easy salad you can make in advance, which is always a Good Thing, but doesn't have to be refrigerated once you get it where it's going, which is another good thing.

And today, my first attempt at aebleskivers -- got the pan as a Christmas gift, finally getting around to using it. These are stuffed with browned sausage, topped with a drizzle of honey, and served with apple butter.

Banana bread (the Cooks Illustrated recipe), sausage quiche and sliced tomatos.

Perhaps the best banana bread I ever made: http://leitesculinaria.com/409/recipes-banana-bread.html

My all-time favorite sandwich -- the BLAT: Bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato. Only thing that could have improved it was spicy aioli, but I wasn't energetic enough to make any.

Dyjee, that lamb WILL be my dinner tomorrow night; I lamb stew meat in the freezer and all the rest of the ingredients. I can't wait. Kim and RobirdsTX as always, your meals look wonderful. DKarch, I am in awe of your presentation skills! Nothing exceptional at my house this week, but here are some samples... Whole-wheat penne with sugar snap peas and bacon, caprese salads, multi-grain baguette from the bakery. Chicken stirfry with mushrooms, carrots, peas over brown rice. Roasted pork tenderloin (I went to no great lengths to plate it, and my plating skills leave much to be desired anyway, so this is just after slicing on the roasting pan).

Avocados. I buy too many when they're on sale, and they go from too hard to just right (where they remain for a period of approximately 36 seconds) and to way-past-prime and speeding toward unusable before I can go through them in guacamole, soup, and sliced on BLTs. And various unidentifiable things that have decomposed into I'd-rather-not-know in plastic containers. Thank God for cheap Gladware....so I can throw out container and all!

Been on the road. First night to cook once I got home was the first homemade pizza I've made in probably 25 years (not a big pizza fan). Pepperoni, baby portobello mushrooms on half (some non-mushroom eaters in the house), tomato sauce, fresh basil, grated mozzarella and grated pecorino romano. I thought between the pecorino and the pepperoni, it was overly salty, but not bad for the first time in a quarter-century.

Drowning in asparagus. Now, THAT'S the way I want to go.

Only place I've ever had barbecue (ribs) in Alabama was Dreamland, which everyone raves about but I was completely underwhelmed. Add to the Arkansas list Whole Hog and Sims, both in Little Rock. Can't leave them out.Whole Hog also has an outlet in Hot Springs.