More cheese, please

Cheese board by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

I had the opportunity last week to meet Liz Thorpe of Murray's Cheese for lunch at Holeman & Finch. Liz is the author of "The Cheese Chronicles: A Journey Through the Making and Selling of Cheese in America, From Field to Farm to Table," (Ecco, 2009), an exploration of the vast world of artisanal cheese. Murray's Cheese Shops are in six Atlanta area Kroger stores - Edgewood, City Walk, State Bridge, Ansley Mall, Marietta and Sugar Hill.

The lunch was simple and perfect - bread, cheese and salad. The cheese selection included Westfield Capri, Sweetgrass Chevre, La Serena, Nettle Meadow Kunik and Burrata. The latter is a soft, buttery cheese, much like a liquid mozzarella. Murray’s flies it in from Puglia every couple of weeks, according to Liz.

And the good cheese news doesn't end there, at least for Atlantans. Restaurant Eugene, next door to Holeman & Finch, celebrates cheese every third Thursday of the month. Five wines paired with five cheeses, $40 per guest, reservations required. http://www.restauranteugene.com/.

The ladies who lunch (plus a charming gentleman). Author Liz Thorpe is fourth from the left. Vikki Locke is to her right. I'm second from the right, Wendy Shannon of With a Southern Twist is on my left and Mary Reynolds of the Reynolds Group is on my right. Gina Christman of Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles is second on the left.

Salad with mushrooms, radishes and ramps. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Burrata, Italian for buttery. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

H & F bread. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Cheese board, midway through the lunch. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Text and images copyright 2011, Lucy Mercer.

Molasses Pecan Squares: Or the Cookbook, the Chef and Me

Molasses Pecan Squares/Heart of the Artichoke (Artisan/2010).



Sorghum Pecan Squares by Chef Linton Hopkins, Holeman and Finch (photo by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books)


When I was a little girl, just starting to bake, I would become very upset when my creations didn't look like the pictures in the cookbooks. The cakes would be lopsided, or cracked, too dark, sometimes too light. I remember my mom telling me that my creations were homemade and that's better than what's pictured in the book. Her advice has reassured me all these years in the kitchen because, while my food looks and tastes great, it still doesn't look like the picture.

I thought about this recently as I tried the recipe for Molasses Pecan Squares from David Tanis' wonderful cookbook "Heart of the Artichoke and Other Culinary Journeys." Tanis is part-time chef at the legendary Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., the remainder of the year he writes and cooks from his home in France. I had the opportunity to meet Chef Tanis in December for lunch at Holeman & Finch Public House. Chef Linton Hopkins prepared a splendid meal for about a dozen Atlanta writers, bloggers and photographers, using recipes from Tanis' book.

The meal consisted of roasted chicken, Sea Island peas with ham hocks and bacon, cabbage with apples, and many more delightful items. The dessert was a very homey kind of sweet, typically Tanis, who has a gift for simple, elegant, seasonal food - Molasses Pecan Squares, the texture of a blondie and that molasses taste reminiscent of gingerbread (without the ginger). (The top photograph is from "Heart of the Artichoke" and shows Tanis' mouth-watering version of the recipe.) Chef Hopkins' version went all-out Southern, using sorghum instead molasses. The Holeman & Finch serving was flatter and larger and absolutely choked with pecans, as you can see in the second photograph, and was absolutely yummy. I intend to find some sorghum and give his version a try.

And here's my version, darker, flatter, with fewer pecans because I couldn't find that extra bag that I swore was in the freezer. Still, they were tasty and chewy and my Mom loved them. Thanks, Mom.



Homemade Molasses Pecan Squares by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books


Molasses Pecan Squares



Molasses is a classic American ingredient, and so are pecans. Here they make a dessert that is a little like gingerbread.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened, plus more for buttering the dish

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 eggs, separated

2 tablespoons molasses

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped pecans, plus a handful of whole pecans for topping

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter and flour a 9-inch-square baking dish. Cream the 8 tablespoons butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. (An electric mixer is helpful.) Add the egg yolks, molasses, and vanilla and beat well.

2. Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt, and add to the mixing bowl, stirring well. Stir in the chopped pecans.

3. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Gently fold them into the batter.

4. Spread the batter in the dish, and sprinkle the whole pecans over the top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Check for doneness with a kitchen knife; when it comes out dry, the dessert is done. Cool in the pan and cut into 3-inch squares.

Excerpted from "Heart of the Artichoke and Other Culinary Journeys" by David Tanis (Artisan Books, 2010)

Text and images copyright 2011, Lucy Mercer, unless stated otherwise.



For more stories and recipes from David Tanis, see:

Grapefruit Drinks

Black-eyed Peas with Ham Hocks and Bacon

Flat-Roasted Chicken with Rosemary

Snow Day Part Duh

Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

When I last wrote, I was in the first day of what became known as either Snowpocalypse or Snowmageddon, catchy words the Atlanta weather gurus came up with to describe the week. The snow fell for just a day, but the subsequent low temps ensured that the ice remains. The sheets of black ice are what kept schools closed and families snowbound this week. No school, no mail delivery, treacherous roads, empty grocery store shelves. We were thankful for uninterrupted electricity, plenty of firewood, a full pantry and no particular need to leave the house.




Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books



I began this week with a simple tomato soup and I'm ending the week with its equally simple accompaniment: grilled cheese. I could go all fancy-pants here and employ air finger quotes for a "take" on grilled cheese. Maybe 87-grain bread made from my own 87-grain home-milled flour, and cheese made from the milk of my herd of goats. Or not.

The only grilled cheese that matters is the one that Mama makes. My girls will someday have children of their own and when they call me up and ask Mom, how do you make grilled cheese? I will tell them this: Pepperidge Farm thin sliced bread (white or wheat), Kraft white American cheese and butter. The Pepperidge Farm thin sliced yields a crispy exterior; the white American, I swear it tastes different than the orange regular American; and for the butter, we use the Land O'Lakes light butter with canola oil because it doesn't tear the bread. Don't turn up your nose at the Kraft slices, each encased in its thin plastic Snuggi. Chef Linton Hopkins of Atlanta's Holeman and Finch Public House uses only American cheese on his famous 10 o'clock cheeseburgers.

Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Writing a recipe for grilled cheese seems a little like telling someone how to wear flip-flops. It's just one of those things that you DO, but here are a few tips to make the process easier. A griddle is a useful thing, mine is able to hold up to six pieces of griddling bread.

Have ready enough bread and cheese for the number of sandwiches you intend to make. Have butter handy. Heat griddle. Butter one side of each slice of bread and place butter side down on griddle. Unwrap cheese slices and place on toasting bread. The secret to successful grilled sandwich making is flipping the sandwich often enough to prevent scorching the exterior but allowing the interior to come to full melting perfection. When it's time to serve, we're a triangle family, but exceptions will be made for those who insist on rectangles or even squares. Occasionally, biscuit cutters are employed to create circles, with the trimmings becoming the cook's treat.

For dessert on this snowbound week - Bellwether Vance's Kumquat Pie. Creamy, tart and refreshing. I have a family of kumquat fans now - thanks, Bell!

Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

What is your favorite grilled cheese sandwich? What do you eat at home when you're snowed in or the weather's too bad to venture out?  Let me know in the comments below.

Text and images copyright 2011, Lucy Mercer.