My Guilty Pleasure, #LetsLunch

Cheesy Apple Casserole. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

On this crisp October morning, with my hazelnut coffee within reach, I could be writing about the glorious bounty of autumn's produce. The flurry and hurry to grab the last of summer's beefsteak tomatoes and crookneck squash, the be-still-my-heart moments when I spy muscadines and figs at the farmer's markets. Instead, I'm going to share a guilty pleasure, one of my family's most-requested dishes, a five-ingredient dish that is proudly processed, with all the shades of meaning that processed means these days.

We call it "cheesy apple," although in old-fashioned community cookbooks and web versions, the word "casserole" is usually attached to it. Strangely, its main ingredient is Velveeta cheese, but I couldn't locate the recipe on the Kraft website, however many versions of this recipe are to be found. Cheesy apple is reminiscent of apple pie with Cheddar crust, a lovely pie that I make when I get bags of North Georgia apples each fall. This recipe uses canned fried apples, in this case Glory Foods brand.

The spiced apple slices are topped with a sugar-butter-Velveeta dough and then baked to bubbly goodness. My guiltiest pleasure of this guilty pleasure is the raw dough, with the texture of Play-doh and the taste of sweet buttery cheese product. (An aside: I love what cookbook author Ann Hodgman has to say about Velveeta in her recipe for Mac and Cheese in "One Bite Won't Kill You" ~ it's a plastic, not a food and incredibly easy to work with.)

Although because of the pantry ingredients (if you count the freezer and fridge as a pantry for storing butter), this dish can be made year-round, it seems especially suited to fall. If you're running kids here and there, trying to get to soccer practice and piano lessons and need a little home-cooked goodness to fill little bellies on a cool night, give this recipe a try.

Cheesy Apple

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
8 ounces Velveeta cheese (I used low-fat), cubed


2-3 cans Fried Apples (I used Glory Foods brand)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Use the butter wrapper to grease a casserole dish. In a bowl, mix together the butter and sugar, then stir in the flour until it forms a dough. Work in the Velveeta cubes.

2. When you have squished and formed the dough, and sampled it for seasoning (*wink*), pour canned apples into the greased casserole dish. Top the apples with lumps of the cheesy dough. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Casserole is done when the apples are bubbly and the cheesy dough is brown. Serve warm. Guilt is always best served warm, don't you think?

This post is part of #LetsLunch, a monthly Twitter party on a given subject. This month's theme is Guilty Pleasures.

Annabelle‘s Figs and Ricotta With Honey at Glass of Fancy
Anne Marie‘s Breakfast Club Sammy at Sandwich Surprise
Betty Ann‘s Purple Yam Jam at Asian In America
Emma‘s Homemade Biscuits & Sausage Gravy at Dreaming of Pots and Pans
Grace‘s School Cafeteria Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars at HapaMama
Linda‘s Dark Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Raspberries & Lemon-Scented Cream at Spicebox Travels
Linda‘s Cheesy Puffs at Free Range Cookies
Lisa G‘s Mars Bar Slice at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Lisa K‘s Nutella Cookies at The Little Good Ride
Lucy‘s Velveeta Apple Casserole at A Cook and Her Books
Margaret‘s Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes at Tea and Scones
Tammi‘s Healthy SPAM at Insatiable Munchies

Text and images copyright 2013, Lucy Mercer.

Potatoes fondantes, French for best potato dish ever

Potatoes fondantes. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Aren't these potatoes gorgeous? The glistening butter and olive oil, the crispy golden skin, they're just about everything you could ever want in a side dish. This is a recipe adapted from Jacques Pepin, who wrote about them in a long-ago issue of Fine Cooking. I adore Jacques Pepin. Some folks go all "Julie and Julia" about Julia Child, and I truly do admire Mrs. Child, but for me, it's Jacques all the way. Watching the series "Cooking with Claudine," I learned so much about using ingredients and the techniques needed to enjoy cooking.

I could go on, but then you would miss these grand potatoes, the perfect side dish for a roast chicken or nice medium-rare steak. Go simple on the main dish and let these potatoes steal the spotlight.

Melt butter and olive oil in skillet, toss in potatoes. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Add broth, then cook until potatoes are steamed. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Super-buttery and roasty toasty on the outside, tender & flavorful inside. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Jacques Pepin's Potatoes Fondantes

New potatoes can be hard to find and sometimes pricey. This recipe can be made with medium-sized Yukon Golds that are peeled and cut into 1-inch dice. Not quite as good as the new potatoes, but still worth the work.

2 pounds new potatoes or 5 to 6 medium-size Yukon Gold potatoes

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 sprigs fresh thyme

2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse and dry the potatoes. Place a 10-inch skillet over medium heat and add olive oil and butter.

2. When butter is melted and fat is sizzling, add potatoes and thyme. Pour broth into pan until it reaches halfway up the potatoes. If more liquid is needed, add water or additional broth. Bring to a boil, cover and lower the heat, leaving lid slightly ajar.

3. After about 20 minutes, check on potatoes. Remove thyme sprigs.They should be tender. Use a weight such as a measuring cup or (my choice) meat pounder to gently smash each potato. (if not using new potatoes, you can skip this step and go right to the browning).

4. Turn the heat to medium high and pan-roast the potatoes until they are brown and crispy on each side. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Text and images copyright 2013, Lucy Mercer.

Southern Classics: Squash Casserole Recipe

Squash Casserole. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 I can't imagine a Thanksgiving table without a squash casserole. This Southern standard is warm and rich and filling, like a good side dish should be. I've tried lots of recipes, from the soup can variations to Paula Deen's, and while they are all good, I gotta tell you, this one is the best. It's from Aunt Fannie's Cabin, a restaurant formerly located in Smyrna, Georgia, using the recipes of a freed slave who stayed after the war to cook for her family.

Aunt Fannie's Cabin Squash Casserole


3 pounds summer squash
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup saltine crumbs
Sugar, about a teaspoon, optional
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Additional saltine crumbs for topping

1. Heat oven to 375. Rinse squash and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices. In a medium saucepan, combine vegetables and pour over water to cover. Cook until both are tender. Drain thoroughly, pressing out excess water with back of spoon, and mash together.

2. Combine mixture with half of the melted butter, the cracker crumbs, eggs, sugar (if using), salt and pepper. Pour into a greased casserole dish.

3. Top with remaining butter and sprinkle with additional cracker crumbs. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes, or until top is golden brown and bubbly.

Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer. 

A radical radish idea

Roasted spring root vegetables with horseradish-thyme butter. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Radishes must be the easiest vegetables on the planet to grow. How else to explain the weekly abundance of the peppery roots in the CSA box? I've learned to love radishes and their crunchy, peppery goodness, especially sliced into salads or as a vehicle for egg salad. 

While casting about for radical radish ideas, I thought about roasting, my favorite vegetable treatment. A little olive oil, salt and pepper, and a high heat oven can do wonders for transforming veggies. I combined radishes with its fellow friends from the spring garden - turnips, carrots and Spring Vidalia onions. A final bath in a horseradish and thyme-flavored butter sealed the deal. This is an outstanding side dish for roasted chicken or pork, or perhaps a sauteed fish fillet.

This humble recipe has acquired a following - it's a Community Pick on Food 52! Be sure to check out James Ransom's gorgeous picture of my recipe!

 Roasted spring root vegetables with horseradish-thyme butter

Serves 4


Roasted spring root vegetables:

 3 spring Vidalia onions, quartered

 12 radishes, halved (for small ones) or quartered (for large ones)

 3 turnips, peeled and diced 1"

 3 carrots, peeled and diced 1"Ask a question about this ingredient

 3 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper


1. Preheat oven to 400. Combine vegetables in a large bowl and coat with olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir with spoon or toss with hands to make sure all pieces are evenly coated.

2. Spread vegetables in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place in 400 degree oven for 45 minutes, stirring occsionlly. Vegetables will have caramelly-brown edges when ready. Toss vegetables with Horseradish-Thyme Butter and serve.

Horseradish-Thyme Butter

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon prepared horseradish

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. In a small skillet over low heat, melt butter. Add prepared horseradish, thyme, sherry vinegar and salt. Use  whisk to thoroughly combine. Pour butter over warm roasted vegetables and serve.

Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer.

My Granddaddy's skillet fried corn with bacon

Skillet fried corn with bacon. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 I've dusted off this post as part of #Letslunch, a monthly Twitter party. The June subject is Dads ~ I took some liberty with the subject, given that it's my Dad's Dad I'm writing about. My own father is famous for cooking bacon and egg sandwiches, fudge using the recipe on the side of the marshmallow creme jar, and fried Vienna sausages. Happy Father's Day!

One of the distinctive characteristics of living in the New South, cookie-cutter suburban Atlanta, is that the Old South, the rural, hardscrabble life that James Agee and others wrote about is never far from view. Reminders can be as vivid as the tar paper shack I drive by on the carpool run - rusted refrigerators and livestock in the yard, enclosed with a barbed wire fence. Or it can be the cast iron skillet that I keep on my cooktop, ready to fry up a pan of corn the way my granddaddy did. Used to be every family had a cast iron skillet, just as dear and useful as a family bible.

Cast iron skillet with corn. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

I wish I could say that my seasoned cast iron skillet is an heirloom handed down through the generations. The truth is, as a newlywed 20 years ago, I paid $20 bucks at Wal-Mart for a Lodge chicken fryer skillet - it's a little bit deeper than a standard skillet, seasoned to a midnight black patina. I keep it on the stovetop so it's handy for vegetable sautes, tomato gravy, pineapple upside-down cakes and biscuits. (I save chicken frying for my enamel cast iron Dutch oven - less splatter.) And fried corn. This is not deep-fried corn, just the Southern term for fresh corn cooked in bacon fat, thickened with flour and seasoned with cracked black pepper.

Now, my family loves roasted ears of corn on the cob and I've been known to turn out a corn salad or two, but if I'm going to write about what's true in my heart, I have to tell you that the best corn I ever ate and later learned to cook was the skillet fried corn turned out by my paternal grandfather in Alabama. I guess I can say that Granddaddy was an ornery old cuss - a grumpy old man who handed out Kennedy half dollars to his grandkids before settling in his recliner with a Bud in his hand, ready for an afternoon of Auburn football.

Well, that’s one memory, I do have another, better remembrance - Granddaddy cooking fried corn in his cast iron skillet. Each summer the extended family would gather for a meal in the dining room of the house in Birmingham, grateful to escape the Alabama heat and ready for a feast. The oval, cherrywood dining table would be covered in a white linen cloth and loaded with the platters and bowls of Grandmother's bone china. The menu was the same for each gathering - sliced ham, sliced tomatoes with mayonnaise, potato salad, devilled eggs (Hellmann's mayonnaise being something of a religion in my family), green beans cooked with ham, and Granddaddy's skillet fried corn. The corn, creamy white and rich with bacon fat, was pretty much my favorite thing on the plate. I remember once my mom asking Granddaddy how he made his fried corn and he smiled, actually smiled, and said you gotta use white corn, what folks called field corn, and a cast iron skillet.

 When I eat my granddaddy's skillet fried corn, I can’t help but think of the Gudger family in James Agee’s “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” - the sharecropper family in rural southern Alabama in 1936. Their house smelled of “corn and lard” and when I fix my own version of this dish, I remember the families whose lives depended on corn, for their livestock and themselves. My grandfather wasn’t a sharecropper, but he came from humble beginnings, and I guess he knew a thing or two about putting together a belly-filling meal on the fly.

Skillet Fried Corn with Bacon

I make this in summer, and I try to use a variety of corn - yellow and white. Gardeners will tell you that Silver Queen is the best, so if you see it, be sure to bring it home.

4 slices bacon

6 ears corn, shucked

½ medium onion, chopped

2 tablespoons flour

Water, about a cup, maybe more

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. In a cast iron skillet, fry bacon until crispy. There are two ways to accomplish this: 1. Messy: on stovetop, fry for about 20 minutes. 2. Not so messy: in 350° oven for about 25 minutes. When bacon is crispy, set bacon strips on paper towels to drain and pour bacon grease into metal container.

2. While bacon is cooking, prepare corn. Remove the corn from the cob thusly - hold cob upright and with a sharp knife held parallel to the cutting board, cut the kernels off one “side.” Place cob horizontally with the flat, cut side on the cutting board and slice off kernels, rotating cob. Do not discard cobs - you will use them in a minute. 

 

3. Place skillet over medium heat and add two tablespoons bacon grease to pan. Add onion and saute until softened. Add flour and cook for a couple of minutes. Toss corn kernels in pan and saute. Take each cob and hold upright in the center of skillet. With the back of your knife, scrape the corn “cream” into the pan. Now you can discard the cobs. Stir.

4. Add water slowly to pan while you stir, until you get the desired consistency. I prefer thicker but some may like it thinner, like a chunky gravy.

5. Crumble bacon and stir into pot or top individual servings.

Text and images © 2010, Lucy Mercer.

"Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" is by James Agee with photographs by Walker Evans and published by Houghton Mifflin. It's a challenging read (at least for me), but if you love the South and the English language and compelling photography, it will reward.

Check out these additional posts from the #letslunch crew:

Here’s a great way to see the round up on Pinterest by Emma, thanks for doing that!

Aleana‘s Homemade Scottish Oatcakes at Eat My Blog

Charissa‘s Grilled Rib-Eye Steaks & Uncle Andy’s Chimichurri Sauce at Zest Bakery

Eleanor‘s Salmon Bok Choy Soup at Wok Star

Emma‘s Ham and Rice at Dreaming of Pots & Pans

Jill‘s Root Beer-Glazed Onion Dip at Eating My Words

Grace‘s Taste of Diversity at HapaMama

Linda‘s Sesame-Ginger Chicken Wings at Spice Box Travels

Lisa‘s Hot Sugary Lip-Smacking Jam Donuts at Monday Morning Cooking Club

Patricia‘s Egg Candy at The Asian Grandmother’s Cookbook

Rashda‘s Beth Howard’s Apple Pie at Hot Curries & Cold Beer

Sonja‘s Spicy Smoked Paprika Lamb Shank Goulash at Foodnutzz

 Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer.

Try a new apple

Pinata apples. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 Sometimes apples are the star of the show - think apple pie, apple cake, applesauce, and apple dumplings. So many dishes revolve around the excellence of the apple, it's easy to forget what an accommodating supporting player a crisp and sweet apple can be.

Recently, Stemilt Growers of Wenatchee, Washington, sent me a sample of a new apple variety called Pinata. The red and yellow fruit is a cross between two European favorites, Cox's Orange Pippin and Duchess of Oldenburg, and an American tried-and-true, the Golden Delicious. Pinata is a high-sugar, high-acid, versatile apple, suited for eating out of hand (although I would peel the slightly thick skin first) and like its ancestor the Golden Delicious, ideal for cooking.

Pinata apples will be available in stores from right about now through April. While looking for ways to  highlight the versatility of the Pinata apple, I remembered how good apples are in a supporting role, lending sweet notes and crispiness to a salad or mellow flavors and textures to a braised dish. The first recipe I made was inspired by a new cookbook that happened to arrive the same day as the apples - "Welcome to Claire's" by Claire Criscuolo (Lyons Press, 2012). It's a vegetarian cookbook packed with great ideas for fresh produce. I adapted a recipe for "Connecticut Cole Slaw" to ingredients I had on hand - the cabbage, the apples, dried cranberries and pecans. The slaw is delicious and light, just right for light lunch or as a side dish to a sturdier meal.

Cabbage, apple, pecan and cranberry slaw. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Slaw with cabbage, apple, pecans and dried cranberries
adapted from "Welcome to Claire's" by Claire Criscuolo (Lyons Press, 2012)

1/2 head green cabbage, coarsely shredded
1 medium crisp and sweet apple, such as Pinata
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon honey (to make this a vegan dish, use agave nectar)
Salt and pepper


1. In a medium bowl, place cabbage. Peel apple and slice into 1/4-inch matchsticks. Add cranberries and pecans.


2. In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, mustard, olive oil and honey. Pour dressing over slaw ingredients and toss together. Serve immediately. Store leftovers in covered container in refrigerator.
 

The warm version of cabbage and apples is this braised dish, adapted from David Tanis' excellent cookbook "Heart of the Artichoke" (Artisan Books, 2010). The apple is peeled and cooked with cabbage and onions, melting into tender savoriness.

Braised cabbage and apples with pecans. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Braised Cabbage with Apple and Pecans

adapted from "Heart of the Artichoke" by David Tanis (Artisan Books, 2010)

1 onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
 1/2 head green cabbage, sliced into 1/2" ribbons
1 crisp and sweet apple such as Pinata, peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup low-salt chicken or vegetable broth, homemade preferred
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add the onions and salt and pepper and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes.Add the sugar and vinegar and stir. Add the apple chunks.

2. Add the cabbage gradually, gently salting with each addition. Add the broth and bring the mixture to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover the pan and let cook for about 30 minutes, checking regularly. Dish is ready when cabbage and apples are tender and flavorful. When ready to serve, garnish with toasted pecans.

Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer. 


Thanks to Stemilt Growers for the sample of apples. My kids got a kick out of the package - a double nest for the fruit:

Pinata apples in their nest. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books.

(Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. I received no compensation other than a sample of two Pinata apples from Stemilt Growers.)

For more recipes that use apples, check out these stories:

French thin-crust apple tart
Classic apple dumplings
Short-cut apple dumplings
Apple Crisp
Apple Blondie, aka German Apple Cake

Three more recipes that use apples:

Morning Glory Muffins
Mulligatawny
Kid-friendly sushi


Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer.

Homemade applesauce recipe (microwave version)

Homemade applesauce. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

This time of year, I end up with a glut of apples, from friends, grocery store sales and trips to North Georgia apple barns. Homemade applesauce is an easy and kid-friendly recipe to help use up these beautiful apples. My favorite recipe uses a microwave for the heavy lifting - easier than risking burning on the cook-top. Forgive the hippy-dippy instructions - this is more of a method than a recipe.

Homemade Applesauce in the Microwave

1. Peel, core and coarsely chunk six or eight apples. A mix of varieties works best. My last batch included Galas and Red Romes. I even use apples that are a bit past their prime, including the iffy bruised apples in the bottom of the apple bag - just cut out the bad parts.

2. Place apples in large, tall container suitable for the microwave. I use a tall gallon container. Pour apple juice (if you have it, water if you don't) to cover apples by about a third.

3. Place container in microwave and zap at full power for five minutes. Stir and zap for five minutes more. This may require more zapping, just check to make sure the apples are cooked through. Stir in a few tablespoons of butter and sugar, if needed. Let cool and puree in food processor.

4. If you simply must have cinnamon, then spice it up by all means. I like it straight, no sugar added. Warm applesauce makes a first-rate side dish for most kid dinners. It's delish also with a pancake and bacon supper.

Apple tree at Mercier Orchards. Lucy Mercer/ A Cook and Her Books

Look for more pictures of Blue Ridge and Mercier's here.
More apple recipes:

French thin-crust apple tart
Classic apple dumplings
Short-cut apple dumplings
Apple Crisp
Apple Blondie, aka German Apple Cake

Three more recipes that use apples:

Morning Glory Muffins
Mulligatawny
Kid-friendly sushi

Text and images copyright 2011, Lucy Mercer.

Irish for a day

Savoy Cabbage by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Oh, what with shaking imaginary shillelaghs and adding o's to everyone's surname, it's impossible to avoid the silliness of St. Patrick's Day for very long. Lucky for me, real Irish food is worth putting on the table. Beyond the ubiquitous Irish Soda Bread, which will be featured here in a few days, there is colcannon, cabbage cooked in milk and stirred into mashed potatoes. It is fortifying and filling on a rainy day, making me long for the land of my ancestors, the O'Mercer's.

Potatoes by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

The colcannon recipe I use is adapted from the Gourmet Cookbook, and it's about as easy as it gets: two pots on the stove: in the first, boil peeled potatoes just like you would for the weeknight mash. In the second, simmer a half head of chopped green cabbage in milk and butter. Drain the potatoes, mash, add the cabbage mixture, season and prepare for a

carb-fest. 

Colcannon by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Colcannon

If you add leeks or green onions to this dish, it's called champ. I like the oniony way, myself, but my kids went crazy for the allium-less version. They call this "Irish mashed potatoes."

2 pounds (about 7 medium) Russet or all-purpose potatoes

1 cup milk (I used whole milk)

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

1/2 large head of Savoy cabbage, coarsely chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (I go easy on this because of the kiddos)

1. Peel potatoes and cut into 2-inch dice. Place in a saucepan or Dutch oven and cover with cold water. Over medium heat, bring to a simmer and let potatoes cook until tender (as tested with a sharp knife). This takes about 20 minutes.

2. In another saucepan, combine milk, butter, chopped cabbage, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and let cook until tender, about 15 minutes. (If you're making champ, here's where you add a washed and chopped leek or a handful of chopped green onions.)

3. Drain potatoes, then mash. I like a rustic mash, with just a few chunks. Gradually add the cooked cabbage to the mixture, stirring until the potatoes and cabbage are united in flavor and texture. The ribbons of celadon cabbage will shimmer in the buttery, creamy potatoes.Serve. Dance a jig. Watch "Riverdance."

Cranberry relish, tart and sweet

Cranberry orange relish by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

The rich foods of Thanksgiving really benefit from a spoonful of cranberry on the plate, be it cooked whole berry sauce, the wiggly jelly cylinder of my childhood, or another favorite, chilled cranberry-orange relish. This is an old-fashioned favorite that's appeared in various incarnations on the Thanksgiving table through the years. Sometimes it's dressed up with pecans, which I don't particularly care for - I like the simple taste of tart cranberry, balanced with sugar and the zip of citrus.

The recipe is as easy as can be: an orange, a  bag of cranberries and sugar, all tossed in the food processor and blitzed to bits. My problem has always been the bitterness of the orange - the peel and pith and sections are all tossed in together, and the bitter pith casts its shadow over the whole. My solution: eliminate the negative by zesting the orange, peeling away the pith and using the juicy orange sections in the relish.

Pith-less Orange-Cranberry Relish

1 medium seedless orange

1 (12 ounce) bag fresh whole cranberries

Pinch of salt

1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar

1. Zest the orange. Cut the orange in half and peel off the pith - each half should come off in one piece. In a food processor, pour in cranberries. Add pith-less orange sections, pinch of salt and sugar. Start with the smaller amount of sugar and adjust upwards to taste. Process for about 15 seconds or until desired texture. Stir in orange zest. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

Text and image copyright 2010, Lucy Mercer.

A minimalist approach to butternut squash

Butternut squash soup and salad by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Mark Bittman is a food writer with a fresh approach. I happen to love his easygoing attitude towards recipes in his New York Times Minimalist column. Bittman's minimalist approach can refer to using few techniques and few ingredients, but it mostly (to me, anyway), means he assumes his readers know their way around a kitchen, probably own a cookbook or two and can translate his shorthand instructions into decent or even delicious food.

Butternut squash by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

In considering butternut squash this week, I decided to take a minimalist approach to one of my favorite autumn vegetables. Butternut squash is pretty much the package - good taste, good nutrition, and good looks (once you get crack open the beast and reveal the amber-gold flesh within). I selected a large squash at the supermarket and made two recipes - soup and salad.

Peeling a butternut squash can be daunting, but with patience, a solid cutting board, a vegetable peeler, and sharp, sturdy chef's knife, it can be easily handled. Begin by cutting the vegetable in half across the width, just above the bulbous end. With the long narrow end, cut it in half lengthwise, then using a vegetable peeler (I find a "Y" peeler to be most useful here), peel off the tough outer layer. With the bottom, rounded end of the squash, do the same - cutting in half through the length, then peeling each piece. The top half of the vegetable will be cubed and cooked with onions and chicken broth for a savory soup and the remainder of the squash will be roasted with olive oil, butter and salt and tossed with salad ingredients.

Butternut squash soup by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

My Minimalist Butternut Squash Soup: half of an onion, chopped, sauteed in butter, add cubed squash, chicken broth, a bay leaf, some sprigs of thyme, salt and pepper. Cook until squash is softened, then puree in processor or blender. Some might add chopped apple to the saute, in fact, I've heard tell that's the secret to the very best butternut squash soup. Some might garnish with bacon, but I like a sprig of thyme, and maybe buttery croutons if I have them on hand.

Butternut sqash salad with greens and brown rice by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

My Minimalist take on Butternut Squash Salad: Cooked brown rice tossed with torn baby spinach, roasted cubes of butternut squash, generous squeeze of lemon juice, glug of extra virgin olive oil, Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. (To roast squash: cubed butternut squash, tossed with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, roasted in a 450 degree oven for 30 minutes.)

One squash, two tasty dishes, lunches for three days or more, with a minimum of fuss.

Text & images copyright 2010, Lucy Mercer.

Tyler Florence on How to Cook

Food Network Chef Tyler Florence cooks for the crowd at Macy's Lenox Square.

Nuggets of cooking wisdom and philosophy from Food Network chef Tyler Florence from his recent cooking demonstration at Macy's Lenox Square:

"When I cook, I like to make things as pure and as clean as possible. I want a potato to taste like a potato."

And for corn to taste like corn - this is his method for cooking fresh corn. I'm sorry to post this just as the summer corn is ending, but keep it in mind for future ears.

It's a very simple recipe, just roast corn in the husk, piled up on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven until your kitchen smells like warm corn. The silks and husk enhance the corn flavor and steam the kernels in their own packages.

Want to know what Tyler Florence thinks? Here are the rest of the Tyler stories:

1. Tyler Florence on his mission.

2. Tyler on Southern Food favorites.

3. Tyler on why he won't be your Facebook friend.

4. Tyler on his new book coming out in October.

5. Tyler on dining out in America today

Salmon and a sign of the times

Canned wild caught Alaskan salmon by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Pinky sweet salmon isn’t the fish of my childhood, that would be the bream that my brother Will would catch at Blanton’s pond near our home in upstate South Carolina. Dad would spread out the Sunday paper on the driveway and clean the fish, saving some for supper, freezing the rest in repurposed cardboard milk cartons. In the kitchen, Mom dipped the fillets in egg wash and cornmeal and fried them up - bream has a distinctly earthy taste and I will always consider it my first fish.

The standby fish in my childhood is salmon from a can. Mom could feed her family of five with one can of salmon and a few pantry ingredients, frying up salmon croquettes. I make salmon croquettes, too, although I’ve adopted my husband’s name for the dish - salmon patties. I don’t know why, maybe it’s a Georgia thing, but that's the way the dish appears on meat-and-three menus around here.

We used to eat salmon fillets and steaks regularly, in the mid-90's heyday of Thursday night’s NBC Must-See TV line-up. I made my killer teriyaki sauce with extra garlic and ginger and heated up the small nonstick skillet I use for scrambling eggs. I coated the pan with just a bit of oil, slid the fillet in, let it sizzle on both sides and poured the teriyaki over all, being careful not to let it cook too much, or the sauce, which is half sugar, would burn to an acrid mess. This was B(efore) K(ids), so my husband and I would eat the salmon with rice and stir-fried broccoli while watching “Seinfeld” and whatever came next. (Followed by "Friends" and whatever came next. Followed by "ER.")

Here’s the thing: I went to the supermarket today to buy salmon for my salmon in a small pan with teriyaki. At the seafood counter, the price was $8.99 a pound. On sale. Let’s be frank, here, Francis, (I’ve wanted to write that for so long): it’s the end of the month, one of my daughters had a cavity filled, we have check-ups and birthdays this month, and despite this week's headline that the recession ended 14 months ago, I just didn’t feel up to paying $8.99 a pound (on sale) for fresh salmon, so I headed to my neighborhood dollar store.

 

Dollar stores are hot - did you know that? At least, according to this New York Times article about how stores such as Dollar General stock goods in smaller packages that are less expensive to appeal to customers living paycheck to paycheck. At Dollar General, I paid $2.25 for a 14.75 ounce can of Alaskan wild-caught salmon. The same can at the grocery store cost $2.59.

Here are my salmon patties. I've tried a few recipes over the years, mostly from the back of the can, but I always go back to the late 80's Pillsbury Cookbook version, with just a few adaptations. Pillsbury was my bridal shower cookbook, and my beaten-up, stained copy is missing both covers, but, thank goodness, the recipes still work.

Salmon Patties by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Salmon Patties

These can be seasoned with fresh herbs, if you happen to have them on hand or in the garden. Dill is upscale, fresh parsley is fine, and dried parsley from the spice drawer is authentic to my childhood memories.

Yield: 6 patties

1 (15 oz.) can salmon, undrained
4 cups fresh bread crumbs from 8 slices white sandwich bread, divided
2 eggs
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
canola oil for frying

1. In a bowl, place salmon. Pick through fish, pulling out skin and icky dark stuff. Mash the bones between your fingers (the bones are supposed to be good for you - all that calcium).

2. Add remaining ingredients, until you have a fairly wet mixture that will hold its shape. Pour remaining bread crumbs into a pie dish. Shape mixture into 6 medium patties, about 1 inch thick and 3 inches across. Place patties in bread crumbs and gently coat with crumbs on both sides.

3. Pour oil into medium skillet and heat until it comes up to frying temperature. I drop a few bread crumbs into the hot oil to see if they will sizzle.

4. Fry the patties in the oil until golden brown, about 3 or 4 minutes on the first side, and a minute less on the second side. Drain on a paper  towel-lined plate.

Pantry staples by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

While I was at the Dollar General, I planned the menu - homemade macaroni and cheese, a black-eyed pea salad with canned peas and dessert using canned peaches, evaporated milk and butterscotch morsels. I spent $9.63, which is just about the same as I would have spent on one pound of fresh salmon at the grocery store.

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese

 This is not one of those complicated four-cheese dishes with a crumb crust. This is an everyday stovetop recipe adapted from The Pillsbury Cookbook. It's very simple to make, and a little lighter than regular mac and cheese, because there's no butter. Be sure to use whole milk, though, for a creamy texture.

 8 oz. uncooked elbow macaroni

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

 8 oz. (2 cups) shredded American cheese

Freshly ground black pepper

1. Cook macaroni to desired doneness according to package directions. Drain and rinse with hot water.

2. In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine flour and 1 cup of the milk. Shake until well-blended (a child is useful for this part). Pour mixture into a medium nontick pan; add remaining milk and whisk until mixture boils and thickens.

3. Add cheese and continue cooking until cheese is melted, stirring constantly. Add cooked macaroni and pepper. Serve.

Black-Eyed Peas Vinaigrette by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Black-Eyed Peas Vinaigrette

1 (15.5 oz.) can black-eyed peas, drained

1/4 cup diced onion

1/4 cup diced red pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1-inch piece ginger, minced

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a medium bowl, combine peas, onion, red pepper, garlic and ginger.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together vinegar, mustard and sugar. Slowly whisk in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and pour over salad.



Butterscotch Peach Tart by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books



I finished the menu with a peach tart, a recipe my Mom wrote out countless years ago. I've always wanted to try it.

Butterscotch Peach Tart

Base

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese

1/2 cup shortening.

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Combine flour, salt and cheese in a medium bowl. Cut in shortening and sprinkle in 5 or 6 tablespoons of cold water over all. Mix into a dough and spread in a springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

Filling, part 1

1 cup butterscotch morsels

4 tablespoons evaporated milk

1. In a microwave safe bowl, place chips and zap for 1 minute. Remove from oven and add evaporated milk. Stir until smooth, returning to microwave oven for 20 second intervals. Spread over crust.

Filling, part 2

1 (29 oz.) can sliced peaches, drained, 1/4 cup of juice reserved

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon corn starch

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1.  In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Neatly arrange peach slices over crust and pour remaining juice overall.

2. Bake at 425° for 30 minutes. Let cool and serve.

Pantry staples by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

The Dollar General store photo is from the Dollar General website.

All other text and images © Lucy Mercer, 2010.

When autumn leaves start to fall: A late summer menu



Okra by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books



The telltale signs of summer ending in Georgia: the trees are dropping leaves on the driveway, the afternoon highs are in the low 90s, and the harvest is in at the markets. Tomatoes; some late peaches, still eye-poppingly sweet; zucchini; bell peppers; corn; cantaloupes, astoundingly stinky ripe and full of flavor; and even a few watermelons, still crisp though low on the sugar scale. And okra - between the technicolor glory of August and the sturdy greens and squashes of October, is okra. People either love or hate the prickly pods with pearly seed-filled interiors - most citing the slime factor, but I love them all ways, always.

Okra was brought to the United States on the slave ships from Africa, and can be used as a stew-thickener in familiar dishes such as gumbo. Many a Southern cook I know swears by a meatless, streamlined version of this known as "okra and tomatoes" and it's usually just those few ingredients, united in holy matrimony by Father bacon and served over rice. Okra is delicious when chopped into short lengths, dipped in a cornmeal batter and fried - some folks will call that Cajun popcorn, although I'm not sure it's particularly authentic to Louisiana. Okra can be pickled, in fact, an okra pickle is a splendid garnish for a Bloody Mary.

I recently picked up a new okra recipe, thanks to two-time James Beard award winning author Nathalie Dupree. Nathalie is near and dear to Atlantan's hearts - she was a cooking instructor here and on PBS stations for years. I have many of her books and use them for inspiration frequently. And now I can say with a barely concealed squeal of delight - she’s my Facebook friend! Nathalie lives in Charleston, S.C. now, where she writes for the Charleston Post and Courier. Being her Facebook friend is like reading her books and asking questions and getting an answer back within minutes. In a recent post, she detailed a Southern vegetable feast with her favorite method for cooking okra - thinly sliced, tossed with olive and oil and salt and roasted in a hot oven.



Roasted okra chips by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books



I experimented with the idea and created beautiful, crispy okra chips that were devoured by my family. My husband and I dusted the chips with chipotle powder. I think with some tweaking, I could go all Famous Amos and market Lucy Mae's Smokin' Hot Okra Chips.

Dear reader, I can't leave you with just one recipe for okra, and not even a real recipe at that, so I featured the okra chips in my End of Summer Menu:

 Roast Chicken with Honey, Grapes, Rosemary and Thyme

Mashed Potatoes

Crisp-Roasted Okra

Plum Crumble with Cinnamon Yogurt Cream



Grapes by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books



Late summer grapes are coming into markets and they are sweet and juicy. We mostly eat them as a snack, but they are fun to cook with, adding a tasty element to a marinated chicken.

Roast Chicken with Honey, Grapes, Rosemary and Thyme

 Marinate the chicken for up to a day before roasting. This is a small quantity of marinade for the chicken - the key is to use a large plastic bag and squeeze the air out, allowing the bird to make contact with the marinade. 

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 sprigs fresh thyme
5 pound roaster chicken
2 cups red seedless grapes, divided
Additional thyme and rosemary sprigs for garnish

1. Assemble the marinade: combine all ingredients except for chicken and grapes in large zippered bag. Make sure the salt dissolves. Add chicken to bag, carefully squeezing out all of the air, so that the marinade thoroughly covers the bird. Place in a plastic container, then the fridge overnight or for up to a day.

2. When you're ready to roast, turn the oven to 450°. I use a cast iron skillet, but a roasting pan will do just fine. Place 1 cup grapes in bottom of skillet or pan, then the marinated bird, one breast side up. Roast at 450° for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn bird to other breast side and roast for 15 minutes. Turn bird breast side down for 15 additional minutes. Finally, roast the bird breast side up for 30 minutes or until a meat thermometer placed into the thickest part of the breast reads 165°.

3. When chicken is ready, place on platter and let rest for a few minutes. Pour liquid in bottom of pan into a degreasing cup. Stir remaining 1 cup grapes into the degreased liquid and spoon onto platter around the bird. Garnish with sprigs of rosemary and thyme.



Roast chicken with grapes and thyme by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books



And for dessert, a plum crumble, made with juicy tart-sweet plums, the last of summer's stone fruit from California.



Plums by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books





Plum Crumble by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books



Plum Crumble with Cinnamon Yogurt

This is an adaptation of a Martha Stewart recipe from back in the day, 1995's "Martha Stewart Cookbook." It would work with many kinds of stone fruit, but plums are inexpensive this time of year and lovely with the creamy custard and spicy crust. This is one of those "divided" recipes that require you to pay attention to the directions. Follow closely! 
  

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 dark plums, pitted and cut into wedges
Vanilla yogurt
Cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, combine the sugar and salt and cut in butter until it resembles coarse meal. Stir in flour. Set aside half the mixture - this will become the streusel topping.

2. With one-half of the mixture, add cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and remaining egg. Mix until blended and press into the bottom of a baking dish - I use a round stoneware dish approximately 9 inches in diameter. Bake for 10 minutes.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup sugar, the milk and vanilla.

4. Remove the baked pastry from the oven and cover with the sliced plums. Pour the milk mixture over and sprinkle with streusel. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until brown on top and bubbly around the edges. Serve warm with vanilla yogurt spiced with cinnamon.



Plum Crumble with Cinnamon Yogurt by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books



    

  Text and images © 2010, Lucy Mercer.