The Southern Pope

Yes, the new Pope is Southern.  Well, not Alabama southern, but he is from "South" America.  And lest we question this fact, he chose to be known as Francis I after every Southern belle's favorite silver pattern.  Bless his heart!

Beans and Preserves

Several years ago we told you about a favorite recipe for tomato confiture.  Here's an idea of what to do with that jar of preserves or jam that you got as a gift and haven't a clue how to get it off the shelf. (Or, perhaps you are just an avid canner with a jar of something like tomato confiture, that needs a recipe!) 

Add it to dried beans.  We love a bit of sweetness in our beans.  On a particularly cold day last week, we found a bag of pinto beans and decided to cook them.  Instead of following a baked bean recipe calling for brown sugar, we grabbed a jar of tomato confiture and tossed it in with the beans and pork ribs. 

One year we had an abundance of apple based preserves and they were a lovely addition to beans as are pear, figs and peaches.   We haven't tried anything with berries in it but why not?


And while you are in the kitchen, back so cookies for someone you love!

Spring Makes A Valiant Attempt

Yes, yes, almost...

Yeah...Spring... sort of.

Chicken Fried Steak

 It snowed all weekend.  If it had been 5 degrees colder there would be enormous drifts of snow.  Our temperature hovered at 35, however, so the lovely large flakes the floated by the window, hit the warm, soggy ground, creating a muddy mess.

It was a great Sunday to sit around, watch television and cook comfort food.

In the "great minds think alike" vein, when I turned on my computer this morning, my first e-mail was from Saveur touting the joys of chicken fried steak.  Their chicken fried steak looked like this. 

 Not bad.  Mine, however, went the for the double comfort of fluffy mashed potatoes and a sausage gravy.

Sorry we missed you!

Happy Birthday, Lee Radziwill

Lee Radziwill was my childhood idol.  She was often called a dilettante, but I adored the fact that she did what she wanted, she tried everything that interested her and she always looked fabulous doing it.

At 80, she is still a stunner.

Recently, Radziwill was featured on the cover of T Magazine in the New York Times.  Here is a video by Sofia Coppola.

 

Florence Nightingale

Been away doing that Florence Nightingale thing... missed so much!

Famous Food Friday -- May & Axel Vervoordt

I have two words for you -- food porn.   At Home with May and Axel Vervoordt is a big old book of food porn. I am not saying it is wrong.  I am just saying it is!   Frankly, no one loves food porn more than me.  Clearly, if you were hanging out in Belgium and May Vervoordt says come on over for quick bite, you would go.   The food would be great.  The food in this cookbook is nice and tasty.  There are a lot of ingredients that sit squarely on the spice rack.  There is not a lot of meat.  The food is surrounded by dreamy castle shots and rich place settings. A reasonably accomplished home cook could pull off anyone of these recipes and be the toast of the kitchen.  I don't mean to complain, but lets review.

If you lived here:

If your husband was a noted antiques dealer and decorator whose clients list included Bill Gates and Sting:

If you has access to a vast array of dishes and china and whatnot's: 

If you oversee a staff nearing 100 including your chef:

My best guest is that you could set a nice table with nifty grub for family and friends.  It is not a criticism, it is just a fact.  You might pick a nice dessert like this one.

Pears With Citrus Fruits and Cinnamon

 
4 small pears
1 orange
I lemon
2 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon chopped fresh gingerroot
1 pinch of saffron powder
½ cup agave syrup

Peel the pears and cut them in half lengthwise. Cut the orange and lemon into ¼ inch strips, retaining the skin.

To make the syrup, boil 2 cups water. Add the cinnamon stick, ginger, saffron, lemon and orange strips, and let infuse for 10 minutes. Poach the pears in this liquid, heated to 175-195 degrees, for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and leave the pears to cool in the pan.

Remove the pears from the pan. Strain the juice. Pour the juice over the pears and serve.

May likes them with a nice chocolate dessert or with one's morning muesli.  Yes it is basically poached pears.  But it is poached pears with lemon and ginger and saffron and agave syrup.  Poached pears fit for the finest trailer park or 50 room castle.  Enjoy.

A Fine Day for Vegetables

The owners of this lovely little house in Orlando, Florida, Jason and Jennifer Helvenston, are facing a fine of $500 a day.  Why one might ask?  What is their affront to the good people of Orlando?

They have planted vegetables in their front yard.  Yes, vegetables.  Evidently in Orlando, one is fined $500 a DAY for gardening.   I wonder if there is a fine for owning an AK-47?

Check out Mark Bittman's New York Times article.

Baby It's Cold Outside

 

According to Trick, it is quite cold INSIDE!

 

 

Jam Maker

 About 4 years ago I ran across a Tefal  confiturier automatic.  An automatic jam maker.  I desperately want one, but Tefal is a European company and they could not see the need for lowly Americans to own a confiturier automatic.  I asked if one could change the plug from 220 to 110 and was told emphatically --NO!

I gave up on the idea until last year when Ball released the FreshTECH automatic jam maker.  I received one for Christmas, and I could barely wait to open it.   My enthusiasm for my new toy had been somewhat dampened by reviews of the FreshTECH complaining that it was a bit on the simplistic side.  I agree that many of the recipes are quite plain and loaded with pectin, but who lets a little thing like "directions" get in the way for jammy goodness.

My first foray into jelly making began with a bottle of Muscadine Cider I brought home from South Carolina.  I wasn't really interested in drinking it, but I was convinced it would make a great jelly.  I followed the recipe for jelly to a tee, using a full measure of sugar and pectin.  

It turned out fine.  I was worried that it might end up leaning toward fruit leather, but it didn't. Next I tried a pomegranate jelly, this time using the low sugar method as the pomegranate juice was a bit on the sweet side to begin with.   The lower sugar jelled fine. 

Then, I threw out the book.  I wanted to use the machine to make marmalade, a recipe no where to be found in the cookbook.  I am a firm believer that marmalade should at its best should ward off the most virulent scurvy. I want marmalade that with all its pithy fight.  I did not want to add a bunch of pectin.  So I sliced my peel, juiced my cara cara oranges and added my sugar.  I left the mixture to cure in the refrigerator overnight.

I dumped the mixture into the FreshTECH and set it for jam.  When it was done, I unplugged the machine and let the marmalade sit until the machine cooled off.  (The instructions are very clear that one must let the machine cool for at least 30 minutes before starting another pot.)  After an hour, I went back to the marmalade and rested the machine, cooking the marmalade a second time.  After two cookings, the marmalade was a perfect texture.

This was a great gift.  As the years goes on, I will be experimenting more and more and will let you know how it goes.  In the meantime...