The Girl in the Hat Goes on a Picnic

The laughing, dressed in a fresh white linen dress, joins her friends for a picnic in the mountains. She puts on her favorite straw hat over her long brown braid. The terrain is rugged, especially for a lady outfitted as a lady. The men are willing to help a young lady across the stream.

Part of being the only girl in a small family is inheriting the family history. These are pictures from my grandfather's photo album, snapshots from the 19-teens when he left Ohio and toured the West. The family thinks the pictures were made in Colorado. I was so enamored of the girl in the hat that since I first posted this story in 2010, I've made her image my avatar.

I wish I knew who the girl was - she has such a fresh face. White linen dress, big black bow, face framed by a floppy straw hat. I imagine she has a long brown braid under the hat. The pictures are from a series taken on a picnic in the mountains and these are the most interesting - which gentleman will carry the pretty girl across the river?

Imagining this grand day, I realize the romance factor has dwindled from my picnics. These days, Clark's sandals and a clean t-shirt and shorts are the order of the day. I like my straw hat, but rely on sunscreen to shield my face because I don't like hat hair.

My Picnic Menu

Pimento Cheese on Crackers

Ham Wraps with Spinach, Cream Cheese and Chives and Red Pepper Slices

Fresh Georgia Watermelon Slices

And brownies, always brownies. These are luscious, fudgy brownies, made rich with cream cheese. I intended to make a cream cheese ribbon through the chocolatey cake, but ended up stirring the cream cheese into the batter for an extra-rich brownie. You need to walk an extra mile to burn off these calories, but it's well worth it. After all, you're in your Clark's and not high-button boots. But if a gentleman offers to carry you across the river, well I wouldn't say no.

Pimento cheese. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books.

Pimento Cheese

This is a boilerplate pimento cheese. There are lots of uptown recipes, and I've bookmarked Bellwether Vance's pimento cheese to try (she also has the ultimate minner cheese story).

8 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup mayonnaise, approximately, (I've never bothered to measure)
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons chopped pimentos

1. Shred Cheddar cheese on the coarse side of a hand grater or in a food processor.
2. In a bowl, stir together cheese and enough mayonnaise to bind. Add salt and pimentos. Serve with crackers or on squishy white bread.

Brownies with cream cheese. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Fudgy Icebox Brownies

These brownies came about from a failed attempt to make a cream cheese marble swirl in my regular brownie. I made both batters, swirled them to perfect marbling and placed the pan in the oven. Then I saw the bowl of three eggs, waiting to be used in the brownie batter. Ooops! Out of the oven, batter dumped in a bowl, eggs whisked in to the now-combined cream cheese and brownie batter. The resulting brownies are super-rich due to the cream cheese, and as good as they are warm, they are divine cold, so place them the bottom of the cooler, and finish off the picnic on a high note.

2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

2 cups granulated sugar

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup natural cocoa powder (I use Hershey's)

2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch-square metal baking pan.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Off the heat, stir in sugar, then the cream cheese, followed by the eggs and vanilla. Slowly stir in the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt, until the batter is smooth and free of lumps.

3. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick or a skewer inserted 3/4 inch into the center of the brownies comes out with just a few moist clumps clinging to it, about 40 minutes. Let the brownies cool completely in the pan on a rack.

4. Cut into squares. Store the brownies in the refrigerator in a covered container.

Watermelon slices. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Watermelon. What can I say? It's Georgia in June and the watermelons are sweet and available at every fruit and vegetable stand by the side of the road. Chill the melon in the fridge, then carve into chunks and what my family calls "pie slices"- with a handy rind handle for kids to hold.

Text and images © 2013, Lucy Mercer.

This story is a re-post for #LetsLunch, a monthly Twitter party for food bloggers all over the world. 

This month's theme is Too Hot to Cook. Thanks Grace Hwang Lynch of HapaMama for hosting 

this month's party! Check back here for links to this month's stories and recipes!

Grace's Mung Bean Shaved Ice at HapaMama
Monica’s Peanut Salad at A Life of Spice
Lisa’s Aperol Spritz Granita at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Cheryl’s Mango-Key Lime Pie at A Tiger in the Kitchen
Linda’s Escape from San Francisco Picnic at Spicebox Travels
Pat’s Almost No-Cook Rice at The Asian Grandmother’s Cookbook
Linda’s Coconut Creamsicle Sodas at Free Range Cookies
Emma’s Cheese Plate at Dreaming of Pots and Pans
Anne Marie’s Lettuce Sandwiches at Sandwich Surprise

Minner Cheese, #SeriousSandwich

Smoky pimento cheese. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 Pimento cheese is the red velvet of the savory world - it's everywhere. And that's for good reason,the pâté of the South is simply flat-out deliciousness. Shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, the diced red peppers known as pimentos, stirred together and spread on crackers or between cottony slices of Bunny Bread, that's what we call Minner Cheese in my household.

Well, leave it to Emeril Lagasse to knock boilerplate pimento cheese spread out of the ballpark. In his newest book, "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches" (Morrow, $24.99), the chef starts with extra-sharp Cheddar and adds smoky pimenton. Hits of cayenne and hot sauce make this minner cheese a grown-up affair. 

Emeril also knows about the best way to eat pimento cheese - grilled; so it gets all ooey-gooey drippy good. 

Smoky grilled pimento cheese. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Smoky grilled pimento cheese is just one of 120 (give or take) recipes in "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches." The book is on sale now online and in bookstores. Check it out.

This post is part of #SeriousSandwich, a blogalong sponsored by Morrow Books marking the publication of 

 

Emeril’s Kicked-Up Sandwiches (Morrow, $24.99)

Stay tuned for more #SeriousSandwich stories...

If you love cookbooks like I do, you gotta follow The Secret Ingredient Blog from Morrow Books.

Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer, 

with the exception of the book cover; that belongs to Morrow Books.

Pimento Cheese is the new gravy

Pimento cheese and crackers by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

As we approach the real dog days of summer, I can confess that it's been so long since I've really cooked! We eat so simply in the summer; I've come to the conclusion that my perfect summer meal is homemade pimento cheese on crackers; crispy, sweet watermelon slices, and iced tea. I could eat this for breakfast, lunch or dinner (and another confession: I have).

Have you seen all the buzz about pimento cheese (or, as it's known in my house, minner cheese)?  Wanda at The Teacher Cooks blog features a minner cheese biscuits recipe that I can't wait to try. There's even a tweet-bot on @pimentocheese, professing a love of the cheese spread all through the Twitter-verse. I never had homemade pimento cheese until I married; my family knew only the occasional plastic container of gloppy fluorescent orange spread. I had to ask my mother-in-law to make minner, and naturally, it's the easiest thing in the world: coarsely shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, diced pimentos, mayonnaise, and a pinch of salt (depending on the sodium in the mayo and cheese, you may leave this out).

Pimento Cheese


8 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese

1 cup mayonnaise, approximately, (I've never bothered to measure)

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons chopped pimentos

1. Shred Cheddar cheese on the coarse side of a hand grater or in a food processor.

2. In a bowl, stir together cheese and enough mayonnaise to bind. Add salt and pimentos. Serve with crackers or on squishy white bread.

Flippin' for Flip Burger

Bread & butter pickles

Turkey burger in a lettuce wrap (above)

The Butcher's Cut

Flip Burger on Howell Mill Road takes the idea of a hamburger and flips it on its bun. The menu includes a Southern burger with fried steak and pimento cheese and green tomato ketchup - juicy and messy and wonderful. Other standouts - the turkey burger in a lettuce wrap a big, happy Atkins-friendly homage that doesn't look like health food. The Butcher's Cut featured onions, bleu cheese, red wine jam, and frisee. Really good - especially the red wine jam. House made bread and butter pickles are the kind your grandma would make for the state fair (if you had such a grandma) - crisp, sweet and sour. My tablemates also enjoyed appetizers of fried okra with sriracha ranch - the okra was sliced lengthwise and fried in a tempura batter. No grease to be found and absolutely delish. The French fries were memorable, especially so with the housemade ketchup and mayonnaise.

Flip is famous for milkshakes, but we were being girls and decided to pass on the shakes, but my next trip I plan to order the burnt marshmallow Nutella shake...and nothing else. Well, maybe some of those okra fries and a side of pickles. Mmmmmm.

The Laughing Girl Goes on a Picnic

The laughing girl, dressed in a fresh white linen dress, joins her friends for a picnic in the mountains. She puts on her favorite straw hat over her long brown braid. The terrain is rugged, especially for a lady outfitted as a lady. The men are willing to help a young lady across the stream.

Part of being the only girl in a small family is inheriting the family history. These are pictures from my grandfather's photo album, snapshots from the 19-teens when he left Ohio and toured the West. The family thinks the pictures were made in Colorado.

I wish I knew who the girl was - she has such a fresh face. White linen dress, big black bow, face framed by a floppy straw hat. I imagine she has a long brown braid under the hat. The pictures are from a picnic in the mountains and these are the most interesting - which gentleman will carry the pretty girl across the river?
Imagining this grand day, I realize the romance factor has dwindled from my picnics. These days, Clark's sandals and a clean t-shirt and shorts are the order of the day. I like my straw hat, but rely on sunscreen to shield my face because I don't like hat hair.

My Picnic Menu

Pimento Cheese on Crackers

Ham Wraps with Spinach, Cream Cheese and Chives and Red Pepper Slices

Fresh Georgia Watermelon Slices

And brownies, always brownies. These are luscious, fudgy brownies, made rich with cream cheese. I intended to make a cream cheese ribbon through the chocolately cake, but ended up stirring the cream cheese into the batter for an extra-rich brownie. You need to walk an extra mile to burn off these calories, but it's well worth it. After all, you're in your Clark's and not high-button boots.

Pimento cheese. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books.

Pimento Cheese

This is a boilerplate pimento cheese. There are lots of uptown recipes, and I've bookmarked Bellwether Vance's pimento cheese to try (she also has the ultimate minner cheese story).

8 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup mayonnaise, approximately, (I've never bothered to measure)
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons chopped pimentos
1. Shred Cheddar cheese on the coarse side of a hand grater or in a food processor.
2. In a bowl, stir together cheese and enough mayonnaise to bind. Add salt and pimentos. Serve with crackers or on squishy white bread.

Brownies with cream cheese. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Fudgy Icebox Brownies

These brownies came about from a failed attempt to make a cream cheese marble swirl in my regular brownie. I made both batters, swirled them to perfect marbling and placed the pan in the oven. Then I saw the bowl of three eggs, waiting to be used in the brownie batter. Ooops! Out of the oven, batter dumped in a bowl, eggs whisked in to the now-combined cream cheese and brownie batter. The resulting brownies are super-rich due to the cream cheese, and as good as they are warm, they are divine cold, so place them the bottom of the cooler, and finish off the picnic on a high note.

2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

2 cups granulated sugar

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup natural cocoa powder (I use Hershey's)

2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch-square metal baking pan.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Off the heat, stir in sugar, then the cream cheese, followed by the eggs and vanilla. Slowly stir in the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt, until the batter is smooth and free of lumps.

3. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick or a skewer inserted 3/4 inch into the center of the brownies comes out with just a few moist clumps clinging to it, about 40 minutes. Let the brownies cool completely in the pan on a rack.

4. Cut into squares. Store the brownies in the refrigerator in a covered container.

Watermelon slices. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Watermelon. What can I say? It's Georgia in June and the watermelons are sweet and available at every fruit and vegetable stand by the side of the road. Chill the melon in the fridge, then carve into chunks and what my family calls "pie slices"- with a handy rind handle for kids to hold.

Text & images © 2010, Lucy Mercer.

Picnic in the Park

Every now and then, July's oppressive heat and humidity hover over someplace else and we get a cool, dry, good hair, mid-summer day. Such an occasion is worthy of a picnic, so my girls and I made a picnic playdate and met some friends at our favorite park for food and playtime. I'm very proud that the menu was mostly made by the girls. Here's the menu:

Summer Picnic in the Park

Pasta Salad with Sweet Cherry Tomatoes, Zucchini and Dijon Vinaigrette

Homemade Pimento Cheese and Wheat Thins

Barbecue Chip Sandwiches

Watermelon "Pies"

Abbey's Blondies

Laura made the pimento cheese and blondies, a recipe from each of her grandmothers. Lindsey decided on barbecue potato chip sandwiches, and frankly, I'm not sure where she got her inspiration from, but they were tasty. In the summer, we always have a watermelon cooling in the fridge. We usually cut it in chunks and eat it throughout the day; this time, it was cut in wedges, with the rind on each slice, to make a convenient handle.

I've made this pasta salad for at least a dozen summers. It's based on a salad from Nathalie Dupree Cooks for Family and Friends, one of my favorite cookbooks. The original recipe uses fresh snow peas and broccoli, which are tasty, but this time decided to keep it seasonal and simple with zucchini from the CSA box and the sweet cherry tomatoes from the farmers' market (pictured above).

Pasta Salad with Summer Vegetables and Dijon Vinaigrette

Vinaigrette

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3 cloves minced garlic

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

3/4 cup olive oil

3 green onions, chopped

salt and freshly ground pepper

Pasta

1 pound rotini, or some other short pasta such as penne or fusilli, cooked al dente according to package directions, and drained

Vegetables

3 or 4 zucchini, peeled, and sliced into 1/4-inch batons

2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half

Other suitable vegetables: broccoli, green beans, asparagus, red and yellow bell peppers, fresh snow peas. Be sure to blanch and shock the green vegetables as described before adding them to the salad.

1/4 to 1/2 cup freshly shaved Parmesan cheese

1. To make the dressing, in a food processor, add the green onions, vinegar, mustard and garlic, and process for 10 seconds or until incorporated. With the processor running, pour in the oil. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper. If you're making the salad in advance, put the dressing in a tightly sealed jar and place in the refrigerator.

2. To blanch and shock the zucchini (and other green veggies, if using), fill a pot with water and set to boil. Set out a bowl with water and ice. Place the zucchini batons in the water and boil for three minutes. To stop the cooking, transfer the vegetables into the ice water, then drain the vegetables.

3. When ready to serve, fill a large bowl with the pasta and vegetables and dressing. If the vinaigrette has separated, whisk it thoroughly before tossing with salad. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust accordingly, (being shy on the salt because you still need to add Parmesan). Add the cheese and serve. The covered salad can hold in the refrigerator for an hour or two before serving.