White Fruit Salad

I admit to a rather unhealthy adoration of white food.  Grits, rice, potatoes -- yes I know the more colorful one's diet the healthier one will be.  I have heard it and ignored it.

Recently, I was cooking a leg of lamb.  My side dish was to be scalloped potatoes.  I wanted something colorful and acidic to cut through the richness of the meat and potatoes.   Someone suggested a fruit salad, and I thought a nice colorful mix of plums, peaches, berries, and herbs with a tangy vinaigrette would do the trick.

"Pick some nice fruit for the salad," I said on the phone.  I dug into the bag of fruit when my guests arrived.  The was an apple. An Asian pear.  Two mushy Bartlett pears.  A small watermelon.  A cantaloupe that felt full and ripe, but when cut into was a gelatinous slime.   I will admit that I missed the blueberries and blackberries that got tucked into the fridge without my knowledge.   My guests were used to the plastic cups labeled "fruit salad" at the high end grocery that contain chunks of melon, a few berries and maybe a chunk of pineapple.

I set about making a white fruit salad, and found a green veggie to serve with the lamb.   When I set the fruit salad on the table there was an uproar.  It did not look like any fruit salad they had ever eaten.  It was all white with some cucumber in it and a revolt was at hand.  Then they ate it.  It was delicious, even though it was white and there were no chunks of watermelon.

White Fruit Salad

1 Asian pear
2 Bartlet pears
1 apple
1 small English cucumber
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 lime, juiced
Pinch of salt

Peal the pears and apple and cut into a small dice.  Do the same with the English cucumber.  Sprinkle with the lime juice and salt.   Toss in the cilantro.

Dressing

1 lime, juiced
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon fruity vinegar


Mix together in a small bowl and toss into the fruit salad.

Remember, it is your fruit salad... if you don't like cilantro add parsley.  Lemon work as do limes.  Cider or champagne vinegar will work,as will a white balsamic.  Use mayonnaise instead of yogurt if you so choose.  When dressing the salad, however, less is more.   You want the fruit to be gently assisted by the dressing and not drowned.


Some guests might just balk at white fruit salad, but give them a minute.  There was about a tablespoon left in the bowl and put it into the chicken's snack.  Someone yelled from the other room, "You're not throwing that away?"  Don't worry, we'll make more.

Death In The Afternoon

My last week sucked. There is really no other way to put it.  It sucked.  I will try to spare you most of it, but do let me say that if I hadn't had my blogger friends out there to keep me informed an enlightened it would have been worse.  Still, I spent a lot of time sitting very still with my eyes closed as the television played in the background. 

There are a lot of Criminal Minds, CSI, SVU type shows that run in the afternoon.  I find this interesting since most of those show feature brutalized or dead women.   They also feature really lovely coroners and criminologists with long flowing hair.  At some point his week I watched as one of these glamorous coroners pull the body of woman out the water and load her on a gurney.  The body had better hair than I did!  According to the story line she had been in the water 3 days -- 3 days and her hair looked better than mine, which did nothing to improve my mood.  (I know it was just a fake TV body, but still, it should not have had coiffed hair.)

Saturday there was a chicken massacre.   A rampaging raccoon killed 5 chickens and injured several other.  I got the survivors locked up and set about burying the bodies.   Several chickens remained unaccounted for.  As I approached the bodies, the first thing I did was pull my hair back.  Even after burying the chickens, who were never touched by my human hands and whose liver temp I did not check, I still felt scuzzy.

I went inside, took a shower and was half dressed when I heard a chicken scream.  I went running out of the house to save her wearing  my Roll Tide t-shirt and little else. The screaming chicken was running wildly, the raccoon was chasing her, I was chasing the raccoon, while screaming wildly.  We ran almost to the barn when the chicken a turned and headed back toward me.  When she turned, so did the raccoon.  At this point, he looked to be the size of English Springer Spaniel.  He was running right at me as stood there motionless.

All I could think about was the glamorous coroner who would find my body in the yard -- with bad hair.  Not to mention no pants and probably no face as those are the tastiest bit to predatory animals.  At the last minuet, the raccoon turned, clearly appalled by wet and stringy hair.  Or perhaps he was an Ole Miss raccoon.  Either way... do press on dear Bloggers,  one never knows whose life one might be lifting.

To quote Scarlett O'Hara, "Tomorrow's another day..."

Week End Espalier

This weekend's "big" project was moving and wiring up the espaliered apple tree.   Frankly, when it comes to fruit trees our thumb is closer to black than green, but we have high hopes for our espalier.  It has survived two years which is generally one year and eleven months longer than most of our fruit trees.  Do keep your fingers crossed.

Cocktails At The Burn Pit --Honeysuckle Vodka

It was a great weekend for cooking out and company.  I requested a bottle of Cathead Honeysuckle Vodka from the ABC store in Virginia, as I knew they carried it.  It seems that my bottle was the very first bottle that they had ever sold.  Cathead, a distillery in Mississippi, has a wonderful vodka that gets distilled six times which makes for a really smooth taste on the palate.  In an era of flavored vodkas, their honeysuckle is one of a kind.  At 70 proof it is a bit less potent than the plain vodka, and some people feel the alcohol is a bit harsh, compared to the plain Cathead, but I thought it was fine.

A favorite cocktail for the Honeysuckle is a Cathead Lemonade.  Several bars offer it up with freshly squeezed lemons, simple syrups, fancy syrups, and this and that.  Don't get me wrong, I love homemade-- there is always something steeping, fermenting, and distilling at my house.  But company and cooking and washing dishes and and and....

Sometimes a girl needs a quick pick-me-up.  Taking a cue from last year's hit cocktail, the Ann's We Don't Have Electricity But We Have Tequila Margarita,  the new summer drink of choice is a vodka version.  All you need is some Simply Lemonade, or homemade lemonade of your choice and a bottle of Cathead Honeysuckle Vodka... and a glass.

Cathead Honeysuckle Lemonade.

2 ounces  Cathead Honeysuckle Vodka
6 ounces lemonade

 Pour in a ice filled glass and garnish with a lemon, or not.

This is great.  It is refreshing.  If you have chores to do later in the afternoon, only drink one.  If you have someone else to cook and clean-up have a couple!  Enjoy.

Whole Lot of Elsa Going On

Elsa Maxwell is one of the reasons I have stopped reading so much fiction.  Clearly, one could simply never conger up such a character.  In today's book-to-screen environment, there is clearly no actress who could even come close to playing Elsa Maxwell -- OK maybe Nathan Lane -- but no actress -- Wait...maybe Kathy Bates -- yes, I think it could be the best biopic ever.  But we both know this will never happen.  

Moving on...Elsa has been on my mind lately as I have been reading Sam Staggs wonderful book, Inventing Elsa Maxwell.

At the very same time, I received an e-mail from someone searching for a recipe.  It seems that her client, a woman of a certain age, remembered a recipe from Elsa Maxwell for a soup with a chicken base and tomato purée.  One might serve it hot or if chilled it would make a gelled consommé.  I do love a challenge.

I grabbed my copy of How To Do It by Maxwell and found only a few recipes. My first guess was this gazpacho, though it is never heated.

Andalusian Gazpacho a la Joan Fontaine

Place the following in a bowl: 4 small cucumbers, seeded and finely chopped; 6 ripe tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped; 1 green pepper, finely minced; 1 clove garlic, finely mashed; 2 tablespoons grated carrot; 2 tablespoons grated onion.  Add cold water to cover with 2 tablespoons lemon juice, or lime juice (I greatly prefer the latter); I teaspoon dry mustard, dash Tabasco, salt and pepper to taste.  Chill thoroughly at least 8 hours.  Serve in individual bowls with a dab of sour cream -- about 1 tablespoon -- on top.

The closest match was a consommé without tomato one.  It is a spinach consommé that can be served hot or cold.  For proof that Elsa Maxwell was from another generation, she lists the recipe as belonging Mrs. T. Reed Vreeland, known to subsequent generations as Diana!   Maxwell notes that Vreeland acquired the recipe from  Elise de Wolfe.

Mrs. T Reed Vreeland  Consommé Vert- Pré

Make a very good rich bouillon.  Add enough spinach juice to color it green, and just before serving add finely chopped fine herbes.  Serve hot or iced.

Neither fit the criteria of the requested recipe.  Since Maxwell mentioned de Wolfe, I thought I would try there.  It is not a great stretch to think that someone who was familiar with Maxwell's recipes might also know de Wolfe's.

I checked Recipe's For Successful Dining. The recipe for Consommé Vert- Pré was identical to Elsie de Wolfe's with the only difference being de Wolfe's was Consommé Vert- Près and she called for "a little" juice to "make" it green.  Spelling and word choice aside, I continued looking at the list of

consommés, and stumbled upon this.

Consommé Madrilene

Make a good chicken consomme.  Add one tablespoon tapioca to each pint of liquid.  Add finally a puree of tomatoes which has been strained through a cloth, and before serving add raw tomatoes cut in a a small dice and leaves of chervil.

This was, indeed, the long lost soup that our châtelaine had been craving.   Everyone is happy.

Think about it...Kathy Bates as Elsa Maxwell... you would definitely go and see that movie.  Sam, if you are reading this...call me.
 

Someone's In The Kitchen With...

The Addams Family

Jane Fonda who looks like she might be in the Addams Family

Christopher Walken who is way scarier than anyone in the Addams Family

Marilyn Monroe who is tasting

Madonna who is cleaning up

Katherine Hepburn, also cleaning up

The Other Hepburn, Audrey, looking perplexed

Justin Beiber, before he knew who Anne Frank was

Ronald Regan cooking outside

Margaret Thatcher cooking inside

Collards, Anyone?

My great aunt, Mamie, was in charge of collards in my family.   No one, and I mean, no one, cooked collards but Mamie.  It was a daylong process.  Picking the collards, soaking them in salt water to remove any lingering insects, washing them, cutting out the core, cooking in ham hocks for at least 3 hours, chopping the collards, and finally extracting the potlikker.  It was laborious, so I often chuckle when I see packaged collared all washed and chopped in the grocery.   Mamie would have never allowed anyone to chop before cooking.

I own a gigantic Wagner Ware roaster that is the size of child's coffin.   I drag it out about three times a year.  Turkey for Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas and for a batch of Brunswick stew.  The other day I ran across a sale on pre-washed, pre-chopped, pre-packaged collards and thought I would give them a try.  Raw collards take up quite a bit of room, so I dragged out the Wagner Ware and set off on my collard adventure.

Needless to say, I have collards to freeze and potlikker for all kinds of endeavors.  The Lee Bros. tell a wonderful story about having company for a wedding or some large event and one of the guest, a Yankee, no doubt, threw out the potlikker that the boys were planning to use to poach eggs.  Yes, indeed, potlikker poached eggs are a great delicacy.

I love to eat anything that remotely resembles eggs Benedict.   Here is a great way to use potlikker and leftover cornbread to make an unusual Benedict.

Old South Benedict

Cut a round of cornbread.

Heat the potlikker in a shallow pan until just under boiling and poach an egg.

Place the poached egg on top of the cornbread and cover with potlikker and a few collards.

If you wanted an a creamy sauce, add a bit of cream to the poaching liquid and reduce.

Need other potlikker ideas?  Check these out.

Spring?

Spring flowers and a bit of spring cleaning.

 

Sugar Bush

We often rail about the cultural stereotype of eating squirrel, sill, we are not adverse to those people who find pleasure in dressing them up.    So I was quite amused to find and article from the Washington Post  about one particular squirrel in my inbox.  Meet Sugar Bush.  Alabama fan and androgynous dresser.

While Sugar Bush is of the female persuasion, she is not adverse to a little cross dressing.

And much like that other cultural icon, Barbie, Sugar Bush has been everything from an astronaut to a

 nurse, which is easy to do when you have over 3000 outfits.  That's more that Lady Gaga!


Check out Sugar Bush's many exploits at her international web site.

Riding Side Saddle

While  we were out and about, I found myself running into a lot of images of women riding side saddle.   It started with the above poster. 

Then we stopped in at The Columbus Museum to see: Homer in America.  Winslow Homer was a prolific illustrator and the exhibition featured 125 wood engravings produced over a period of nearly three decades.  Several of them were of women riding side saddle.

Needless to say, when I returned, I pulled together a few of my favorites.

Mrs. Esther Stace riding side saddle and clearing a record 6'6" jump in 1915 at the Sydney Royal Show.
(alas, Mrs. Stace cheated a bit by using a springboard...still.)

Actresses are quite good at side saddle.

Grace Kelly riding in Central Park

Elizabeth Taylor

 

And Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft.  Jolie said she loved riding side saddle and shooting for this scene.  Unfortunately for the person in charge of continuity, there was a bit of a problem.  When Lara Croft stops riding and shooting, she pivots her horse to ride back to her castle.   Riding back, she is astride the horse, both feet clearly in stirrups.  It would be impossible to go from side saddle to astride without damaging delicate body parts.

Finally, a bit of side saddle fashion.  Out riding in a lovely red coat.