Coffee Hour

Coffee hour used to be one Sunday a year for me, but since my husband in on the vestry we have to do it a whole month (since people do not step up to do it). I have just finished four Sunday’s in July and feel I have done my part for this year! I got some requests from the children, especially the priest’s 13 year old son. He likes my food and when he found out I was doing four Sundays; boy, was he happy! He wanted my deviled eggs and pigs in a blanket. Now, I actually have never done pigs in a blanket, but I thought of Sister Shubert’s sausage rolls and they hit the spot. They were gone immediately and I helped increase her sales for July!!

I did a new casserole that could be left in the refrigerator overnight and baked in the morning. At church it can be kept in a warmer. This was a hit and I will share this recipe with you. I am sure most of you have done this casserole; it is great for company since it serves 8-10 and can be done ahead.

My other new recipe was a dessert pick-up made with a shortbread crust and a salty caramel topping. That was a hit and gone in three seconds. So try these two recipes. You too can become a legend at church for your cooking!

Sausage and Cheese Casserole

Serves 8-10

8 slices white bread, cut into cubes (I used half a loaf of thick Italian bread)

1 lb. pork sausage, crumbled and cooked

1 ½ cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

10 large eggs

2 cups milk

2 teaspoons dry mustard

1 teaspoon salt

Pepper to taste

Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Place bread cubes in prepared dish.

Top with sausage and cheese.

Beat together eggs, milk, mustard and salt.

Season with pepper.

Pour egg mixture over sausage mixture.

Can remain covered overnight in the refrigerator at this point.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake casserole uncovered until puffed and center in set, about 50 minutes.

Cut into squares and serve.

Cutting smaller squares can make 28 squares.

 

From The Splendid Table by Jane Hornby.

Salted Caramel Shortbread Bites

Makes 26 small cubes

Ingredients

For the Base:

1 stick, (1/2 cup) soft butter, plus extra for greasing

¼ cup sugar

A pinch of flaky sea salt

½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

For the Caramel:

1 stick, (1/2 cup) butter

1 packed cup dark brown sugar

¼ cup golden syrup, such as Lyle’s, or corn syrup

½ tsp. flaky sea salt

14-oz. can, full-fat condensed milk

For the topping:

7 oz. bittersweet chocolate, 70% cocoa solids

½ tsp. flaky sea salt

Instructions:

Lightly grease 9-inch square baking pan, then line with parchment paper. Make the base first. Put the butter in a large bowl and beat well with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer until creamy and very pale. Add the sugar, salt, and vanilla and beat again until even paler.

Sift the flour over the creamed butter and sugar. Using a spatula, gently work the flour into the mixture to make an evenly blended dough that starts to clump together.

Press the dough into the prepared pan, then level and smooth it with the back of a spoon. Prick it all over with a fork, then chill for 10 minutes, or longer if you like, until firm. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the shortbread is golden all over. Let cool completely.

For the caramel: Melt the butter, sugar, syrup, and salt together gently in a pan, then stir in the condensed milk.

Bring the caramel to a simmer, stirring constantly with a spatula, and let it bubble for 4 minutes, or until it thickens and smells like creamy toffee. It should be thick enough for the spatula to leave a train in the caramel for a few seconds. Don’t leave the pan or stop stirring during this step, as it can easily burn on the base.

Pour the caramel over the shortbread and let it cool completely.

Once the caramel has set and cooled, it’s time to finish the layers. Melt the chocolate either over a pan of water or in the microwave, stir in the oil, then pour this over the caramel. Sprinkle with the salt and let set at room temperature, or in the fridge if it’s a hot day. The oil helps stop the chocolate setting too hard, which can make it difficult to cut.

When the chocolate is just set, cut into squares. Then chill until completely firm. Can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

 

 

 

Birthday Weekend

I spent my birthday this year in New Orleans (which I tend to do every year) and ate at the same restaurant, Peche, and had the same main course, a roasted redfish with salsa Verdi. We had sides of okra and tomatoes with chilies, lamb skewers with eggplant, and fried Brussels sprouts. The dessert was a salted caramel cake (which I also had last year). I did come home this year and find a recipe for this cake and will share it with you. So I guess I am a creature of habit, but when it is good, do it again!

I did do something different on this birthday weekend. I went in search of a sandwich. I was reading the July issue of ‘Food and Wine’ magazine and an interview with Colin Hanks (Tom Hanks’ son) caught my attention. He was in New Orleans filming and while doing his laundry someone there told him to eat a sandwich called All That Jazz at the Verti Marte. Well I have been going to the Verti Marte for almost 20 years and had never eaten that sandwich. I like their oyster po-boy, dressed, or jambalaya, and I often have a BLT for breakfast. I went down and told the cooks that they were in a magazine but no one there knew about the article. I ordered the sandwich and here is how it is described: All That Jazz: a medley of grilled ham, turkey, and shrimp with Swiss and American cheese with grilled mushrooms and tomatoes on grilled French bread with our original “wow” sauce. This is quite a mouth full and the sandwich is huge and should be shared by two. The “wow” sauce is like a comeback sauce but the cook told me it was more of a tartar sauce but I don’t think so. I was greatly surprised when they presented me this very heavy sandwich and said it was on the house. So go to the Verti Marte located on Governor Nichols and Royal Street in New Orleans. The sandwich is delicious and will keep you full all day. Or try it at home.

This cake recipe is close to a Southern Caramel Cake, but the buttercream makes it out of this world.

Butter Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

Serves 12

Butter Cake recipe

3 cups flour, all purpose

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 cup softened butter (2 sticks)

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, room temperature

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

Salted Buttercream Frosting Recipe

First Stage

2 cups sugar

1 cup buttermilk

½ cup Crisco vegetable shortening

½ cup butter

1 teaspoon baking soda

Second stage

½ cup butter

½ teaspoon sea salt

2 cups confectioner’s sugar

Butter Cake Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Prepare 3 9-inch cake pans with shortening and flour

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt with a whisk in a large bowl. Set aside.

Cream butter until fluffy and then add sugar. Cream together for about 8 more minutes.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, and cream together after each.

Add flour mixture and buttermilk, alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Combine each addition of flour and then turn mixer on high to add air into the batter.

Add vanilla and beat well. Turn mixer on high once vanilla has been incorporated for about 10 seconds to lighten batter.

Divide among pans and bake for 25-30 minutes until set.

Turn out of pans onto cooling racks and allow to cool completely.

Salted Caramel Buttercream Recipe

Add all ingredients form the first stage of the frosting recipe in a 3-4 quart pot. Stir ingredients with a wooden spoon and cook over medium-low heat.

Cook to softball stage (235-245 degrees on a candy thermometer as well as using the cold water test).

Remove from heat and pour into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Using a whip attachment, whip the caramel until it has cooked enough to touch lightly.

Add the butter and salt from the second stage of the frosting recipe to the mixing bowl and whip.

Add confectioner’s sugar in ½ cup increments, stopping after each to scrape sides of mixing bowl. Turn mixer onto high for about 10 seconds after each addition to incorporate air into the frosting.

Adjust the amount of confectioner’s sugar to result in a frosting that will hold its shape.

Frost cake and store on a cake plate covered with a dome or an airtight container.

Best served with 1-3 days.

 

Houston

Our daughter is moving to Houston for two years so I have a new city to visit and some new foods and restaurants to explore. She is specializing in pediatric surgery and has to do two years of research so Houston was the choice. We spent a very hot weekend finding her a place that could accommodate her two cats (I think they should stay in Tucson, but one does not tell their grown daughter what to do!).

I did not realize that Houston is the fourth largest city in America, but having driven through a few times one does realize there are interstates going everywhere. Yes, Houston traffic is going to be a problem.

Beyond the traffic there are some good things. Because of the varied population there are many ethnic restaurants. There is a China town and Little India. There is a Shipley’s donut chain called the Kolache Factory that sells warm Eastern European pastries called kolaches, filled with sausage and cheese (It’s a Czexas thing our daughter informed us---Czech/Texas.). We ate there for breakfast and they were good. We had a wonderful Indian meal at a restaurant called Indika, and I had goat brains for the first time. They were delicious. I did notice that goat was on the menu in several places. For my main course at Indika I had grass fed beef, Holy Cow, as the waiter said. It had been grilled and was served in a masala sauce, with a creamy cashew nutmeg curry; chili oil and spiced sweet potato with caramelized onions and black garbanzo beans. I will go back to this place!

Another fun restaurant was Hugo’s. It’s a Mexican restaurant that has been around for some time and has won many awards for its food and friendly service. We were surprised to find squash blossoms on the menu. There was a squash blossom soup, a squash blossom salad, squash blossom quesadillas, enchiladas stuffed with squash blossoms, goat cheese stuffed squash blossoms, and tostadas topped with shrimp, zucchini and squash blossoms. My husband ordered two of these items and found them delicious. I had never been to a place where squash blossoms were featured with its own little menu. It was for a limited time since squash blossoms don’t last forever.

Perhaps the best find was Underbelly. Chris Shepherd is the James Beard award-winning chef for this restaurant and much to my surprise the new issue of ‘Saveur’ featured him and his restaurant. Shepherd has a bold statement at the top of his menu, “Houston is the new American Creole city of the South.” Using the word “Creole” in a more general sense, to describe the mixing of disparate cultures, Shepherd is explaining that he cooks a version of Houston food derived from the culinary traditions of the enormous ethnic populations that live there. Instead of barbecue brisket he makes stewy braised goat with rice-cake-like dumplings, red curry with pork belly, and fried, turmeric-marinated grouper served over rice noodles, all seasoned from a coterie of flavorings---Chinese five spice, fish sauce, gochujang (the spicy fermented Korean condiment)---not widely used in Texas cowboy cookery.

The food at Underbelly is served one course at a time and served from the lightest to the heartiest course. They called it family style but by serving it one dish at a time, I thought it more like eating in a Chinese home where everyone dips their chopstick into the communal pot. You could enjoy each course that way and everybody got a taste. We had a tomato salad followed by the grouper described above (excellent), a pork belly with a cucumber salad, and the famous goat dumplings (which are always on the menu) and they were probably the best item. I will certainly visit this restaurant again. Also of interest, Shepherd has a list of small ethnic restaurants he would like you to try and you can take the list with you. He supports these smaller places and gives them the credit for teaching him how to infuse his food with all these great flavors.

I may have to visit our daughter again---sooner rather than later.

From the article on Underbelly in Saveur there are some recipes worth trying. They all have an Asian twist, but nothing you cannot do.

June/July 2015 issue of ‘Saveur’ magazine

Watermelon, Feta, and Jalapeño Salad

Serves 6

2 tbsp. fish sauce

1 ½ tbsp. fresh lime juice

2 tsp. honey

3 shallots (1 roughly chopped, 2 thinly sliced)

1 clove garlic, roughly chopped

1 red Thai chile, stemmed

2 tbsp. canola oil

12 oz. watermelon flesh, cut into 2 ½”x1 ½ “rectangles

¼ cup crumbled feta

2 vine-ripe tomatoes, cored and quartered

1 jalapeño, stemmed and thinly sliced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

¼ cup mint leaves

¼ cup torn basil leaves, preferable Thai

3 scallions, thinly sliced

Purée fish sauce, lime juice, honey, chopped shallot, the garlic, and chile in a blender until smooth; with the motor running slowly drizzle in oil until emulsified. Toss dressing with watermelon, feta, tomatoes, jalapeno, salt, and pepper in a bowl; transfer to a serving platter and top with sliced shallots, the herbs, and scallions.

Grilled Cantaloupe with Peach Agrodolce

This dessert is simple to make.

Serves 6

1 cup sugar

½ cup apple cider vinegar

2 peaches, peeled, pitted, and diced

1 large cantaloupe, peeled, halved, and seeded, and cut into 1/2”-thick slices

¼ cup olive oil

1 pint blueberries

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

¼ cup torn basil leaves, for garnish

Bring sugar, vinegar, and peaches to a simmer in a 2-quart saucepan over medium; cook until peaches are softened and liquid is reduced by half, 10-12 minutes. Set agrodolce aside.

Build a medium-heat fire in a charcoal grill, or heat a gas grill to medium. (You can heat a cast iron grill pan over medium.) Toss cantaloupe with oil, and working in batches, grill, turning once, until charred all over, 10-12 minutes; transfer to a serving platter with blueberries. Drizzle with agrodolce, season with salt and pepper, and garnish with basil.

Peaches and blueberries and basil and cantaloupe are all in season. You may want to make this your July 4^th dessert if you are grilling that day.

 

 

Chile Pepper

Our trips out West have me thinking more about pepper. We are growing several kinds: gypsy and banana are the sweeter ones and we have my favorite---jalapeño.  The jalapeño was named for the town of Jalapa, Mexico, where it was originally marketed. The fruit skin may show a brown netting pattern called corkiness which does not affect the flavor. Because the thick fruit walls keep the pod from drying naturally on the plant, the mature red jalapeños may be dried by smoking them over mesquite or another hardwood, and the product is called chipotle. My husband has planted some seed of some other hot ones that interested him: chile de arbol which as the name says is to be tree like. He has also obtained seed of chiltipen. This is the wild ancestor of all Capsicum annuum varieties. It likes to grow in dappled shade and is a perennial plant. If a freeze occurs it can come back from the root. It produces a small round hot pod. He also has a Texas bird pepper which is similar to the chiltipen. His hero, Thomas Jefferson grew the bird pepper. Several of these seeds have come from Native Seeds in Tucson, Arizona, which does a nice job of promoting sustainable gardening and saving seeds from sources in the western deserts. We like to visit every time we go to Tucson. I buy beans and other products. My husband buys plants and seeds, although the plant sale this year was another month away. One of their seasons is the monsoon season in July which gives a lot of plants a good start.

Capsicum species are members of the family Solanaceae, the nightshade family, which includes eggplant, petunia, potato, tobacco, and tomato. They are not related to the black pepper, Piper nigrum, which is a tropical vine. Botanically, chile peppers are perennial subshrubs when grown in their native habitats but we in the more temperate areas grow them as annuals.

Chiles originated in the Americas. By the time the Spanish arrived in Mexico there were already dozens of varieties. Christopher Columbus, too, sent seed back to the Old World and they were planted extensively in the Portuguese and Spanish colonies resulting in even more diversification. Within one hundred years, chiles had circumnavigated the world and were growing everywhere in temperate and tropical climates.

Our favorite place to stop when we pass through Las Cruces, New Mexico, is in the old town of Mesilla which, of note, was the Confederate capital of the Arizona Territory. We love the posole at Ándele. This year we discovered something new (to us, anyway) --- a pickled jalapeño. We learned we needed to roast the mature jalapeño, peel it and soak it in soy sauce and lime juice (3:1 ratio) for three days. Less time and it will be hotter. We really liked this pepper.

Last year I bought The Complete Chile Pepper Book.  To roast and peel pepper pods, first cut a small slit in the pod close to the stem end so that the steam can escape. The pods can be placed on a baking sheet and put directly under the broiler, or on a metal screen on top of a burner. The author suggests the easiest method is to use a barbecue grill. Place the pods on a grill 5 to 6 inches from the coals or gas flames and turn them often. Blisters will soon form, indicating that the skin is separating. Be sure that the pods are blistered all over before you take them off the grill or they will not peel properly. The pods may burn slightly, but take care that they do not blacken entirely or they will be overcooked and will be nearly impossible to peel. We grilled some jalapeños last evening and I found them easy to peel. I have them marinating in some lime juice and soy sauce for eating in a few days.

Here is another great recipe with jalapeños. These are so good your guests will eat them like peanuts. Serve them with an icy cold beer.

Taken from The Everything Tex-Mex Cookbook by Linda Larsen.

Jalapeño Poppers

Makes 24

12 small jalapeño peppers

¼ pound chorizo sausage

1 ½ cups shredded Cheddar cheese

2 eggs, beaten

½ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

¼ cup cornmeal

¼ cup flour

½ cup finely crushed corn flakes, cereal

Vegetable oil

1 cup Nacho Cheese Sauce

Cut jalapeño peppers in half and gently remove seeds and membranes. In heavy skillet, over medium heat, brown chorizo sausage until thoroughly cooked; drain and let cool for 10 minutes. Mix with cheese.

Stuff the cheese filling into jalapeño halves. Combine eggs, salt, and pepper in shallow bowl. Combine cornmeal, flour, and crushed cereal in another shallow bowl. Dip each stuffed jalapeño in egg, then into cornmeal mixture to coat. Set on plate, cover, and chill for at least 1 hour.

When ready to serve, heat 1” of vegetable oil in deep heavy skillet over medium heat until temperature reaches 350 degrees F. Fry stuffed jalapeños for 2-4 minutes until brown and crisp. Serve with warmed Nacho Cheese Sauce.

Tucson '15

The big trip out west is over for the year. Yes, we did the long drive to Tucson to pick up items to take to Houston for our daughter. It was such a quick trip I barely remember being there. I do remember being in the car for hours!

We ate at some of our favorite haunts, like La Gloria in San Antonio. It was as good as last year. We had our favorite posole (a Mexican soup) in Las Cruses; in fact we ate there coming and going! One posole was so hot I could not finish the bowl. They checked with the kitchen and a new batch of chilies had come in and they were somewhat hotter than usual. On the way back we stopped in Fredericksburg, Texas, a really nice town in the Hill Country. We ate at a restaurant called Crossroads, (there was not much open at 8:30PM) but we hit it just right with it being steak night. Also, wine was half price. They had a great band going and we were invited to stay and dance, but after a long day we went back to the hotel. Next year! The best treat on this trip is the Arizona Inn in Tucson. This resort was built in the 1930’s by Arizona’s first Congresswoman and still family owned and run. The story of Isabella Greenway’s life is fascinating including the fact that she was a bridesmaid in Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt’s wedding. I did not get my fill of this place. We have been there four years in a row and each time we find it lovely and welcoming. And rates are really good in the summer. The food there is also very good so we ate breakfast there and one evening meal. We did eat at another restaurant called Feast for the last night in Tucson. We bought frozen tamales from the famous Tucson Tamale Company and brought them back in a cooler to eat upon returning. They take it up a notch from the usual.

I had some good ceviche at La Gloria and came home and got some fresh, white fish and made some. There is nothing more refreshing in the summer than a cold spicy ceviche. Try to get the freshest fish available and make the ceviche the day you buy the fish. Remember the lemon and lime ‘cook’ the fish and it only needs to sit for a few hours, so a simple delicious dish.

Ceviche

Ingredients:

2 lbs. of firm, fresh fish (snapper is excellent but I used cod) cut into ½ inch pieces, completely deboned

½ cup fresh squeezed lime juice

½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

½ red onion, finely diced

1 cup of chopped fresh seeded tomatoes

1 serrano chili, seeded and finely diced

2 teaspoons salt

Dash of ground oregano

Dash of Tabasco or a light pinch of cayenne pepper

Cilantro

Avocado

Tortillas or tortilla chips

In a non-reactive casserole dish, either Pyrex or ceramic, place the fish, onion, tomatoes, chili, salt, Tabasco, and oregano. Cover with lime and lemon juice. Let sit covered in the refrigerator for an hour, then stir, making sure more of the fish gets exposed to the acidic lime and lemon juice. Let sit for hours; giving time for the flavors to blend.

Serve with chopped cilantro and slices of avocado with heated tortillas for ceviche tacos or with tortilla chips.

At the Arizona Inn, we had an appetizer that was new to me. It was a goat cheese panna cotta served with balsamic Brussels sprouts. The Brussels sprouts I have done in the past, but never had them served with goat cheese panna cotta. But it was good. Most of you know how to roast Brussels sprouts, so at the end of the roasting period add several tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and roast for 5 minutes more. This will give you a caramelized finish on the Brussels sprouts. The recipe for the goat cheese panna cotta is easy. Just unmold the panna cotta and arrange the Brussels sprouts on the dish. A great appetizer.

Goat Cheese Panna Cotta

Serves 4

Four ramekins

½ cup milk

1 ¼ tsp. unflavored gelatin

2/3 cup plain, whole milk yogurt

½ cup goat cheese

Ground white pepper

Kosher salt

Brush the ramekins with a good extra virgin olive oil.

In a medium saucepan, warm the milk over medium high heat. Sprinkle the gelatin over the milk.

Let gelatin stand until softened, about 5 minutes.

Rewarm the milk over low heat for about 1-2 minutes, stirring to dissolve the gelatin.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the goat cheese and yogurt, stirring until all is fully incorporated and no lumps remain.

Evenly divide the mixture between the ramekins. Place the ramekins in the refrigerator and chill for 2 hours or overnight.

To serve, run the tip of a small knife around the edge of the ramekin and invert onto a plate. Arrange sprouts on the dish and serve. Garnish with extra virgin olive oil if desired.

 

 

 

Fourth of July Hamburger

The great American Fourth of July cookout is this weekend and I have been reading for several weeks about how to make the best hamburger. And I would agree there is nothing better than a good hamburger. As I have mentioned before I think the best burger I have had was at Husk in Charleston. I have the recipe for that and will give it to you. You need a meat grinder but the butcher can do the grinding for you if you do not have one. So this is my gift to you on the Fourth---you will have the best burger in town!!

From Sean Brock’s Heritage cookbook, 2014.

Husk Cheeseburger

Makes 10 cheeseburgers

 

Special sauce

1 ¾ cups mayonnaise, preferably Duke’s

1 ¼ cups, yellow mustard

5 tablespoons ketchup

½ cup Bread-and-Butter Pickles

Grated zest and juice of one lemon

1 tablespoon hot sauce

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons pepper vinegar, preferably Texas Pete Brand

 

Cheeseburgers

One 3-pound fresh boneless chuck roast

12 ounces fresh flank steak

3 ounces bacon, preferably Benton’s (I do believe Benton’s is the best. You can order it.)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

10 hamburger buns, preferably potato rolls

1 cup shaved white onion

20 slices American cheese

50 Bread-and-Butter Pickles

For the Sauce: Combine all the ingredients in a large container and stir together to blend well. Cover, and refrigerate. (Tightly covered sauce will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.)

For the Cheeseburgers: Grind the chuck, flank steak, and bacon through a meat grinder fitted with the large die into a bowl. Mix gently to combine. Then run half of the mixture through the small die. Mix the two together.

Portion the meat mixture into twenty 3-ounce patties, about ½ inch thick (each burger gets 2 patties). If not cooking right away, arrange on a baking sheet, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate. (The patties can be refrigerated for up to 1 day. Remove from the refrigerator about30 minutes before you’re ready to cook; it’s important that the patties are not ice-cold when they hit the hot pan.)

Generously butter the tops and bottoms of the buns. Toast on a griddle until nice and golden brown. Reserve.

Heat two 12-inch cast-iron skillets until hot as possible. (I like to grill my burgers.) Divide the patties between the two hot pans. When the patties are nice and charred, about 2 minutes, flip them over and cook for 2 minutes more for medium. Place the onion slices on 10 of the patties. Place a slice of the cheese on all of the patties and allow it to melt, about 30 seconds. Stack the non-onion patties on top of the onion patties. Remove from the heat.

Smear both sides of the buns with special sauce. Place 5 pickles on bottom half of each bun. Add the burger patties and top with the top halves of the buns. Serve at once.

Happy 4^th!!!

 

 

 

Heritage Cookbook

While in Charleston I purchased Sean Brock’s cookbook called Heritage which came out last year. It was so good that I thought it deserved an article all its own. If you cannot get fired up about Southern cooking after reading this book, nothing will move you!

As for Sean, he grew up in rural Virginia, and his roots there inspired his passion for exploring Southern foods and preserving and restoring heirloom ingredients. He is the executive chef and partner of three awarding winning restaurants, including McCrady’s and Husk in Charleston and Husk in Nashville. He won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast in 2010; he was nominated for Outstanding Chef in 2013 and 2014. He has been on Iron Chef America and has hosted two seasons of the Emmy Award winning Mind of a Chef.

He credits his love of food to his grandmother whom he lived with when his father died at the age of 39 and he was 11. She had a huge garden and every square space of her basement was filled with preserved food. She gave him a wok at the age of 13 and he watched the video that came with the wok over and over and then began watching cooking shows after that.

The recipes in “Heritage” range from simple dishes requiring little culinary skills to compound ones with complex techniques. Brock believes that home cooks and professionals can move their cuisine forward by understanding the past and knowing where food comes from. This book has a lot of South Carolina Low country influences, but it is a book about the South and all the things that helped a culture.

Brock has a manifesto at the beginning of his book and these are worth noting. I also believe these to be true.

1. Cook with soul---but first, get to know your soul.
2. Be proud of your roots, be proud of your home, be proud of your family and its culture. That’s your inspiration.
3. Buy the best you can afford.
4. Do as little as possible to an ingredient when it’s perfect and at its peak.
5. You can never be too organized; a clean work space allows for a clean mind that can produce a clean plate of flavors.
6. Listen to your tongue; it’s smart.
7. Eat with your hands as much as possible.
8. Never stop researching and seeking knowledge in the kitchen.
9. Cooking should make you happy. If it starts making you angry, stop cooking and go to eat in a nice restaurant. Come back the next night and think about what went wrong and give it another
   shot.

There are great resources listed in the back of the book. I have already gotten two shipments from two of the sources. I ordered more Benton’s Bacon (you cannot find bacon like this anywhere else) and the e-mail is www.bentonscountryham2.com. I cannot encourage you enough to try this bacon. The shipping is costly (almost as much as the bacon) but since I probably will not get to Madisonville, TN any time soon I have to order it. Another source is Anson Mills. I ordered rice, beans, flour, benne seeds, and grits from them. Their e-mail is www.ansonmills.com.  I have a lot of cooking to do. I need to stay home!

One of my favorite recipes from Heritage: This is one you can do.

Roasted Cauliflower with Meyer Lemon and Brown Butter, Watercress, and Pink Peppercorns

Serves 6

Cauliflower

1 large head cauliflower with a 1-inch stem (about 2 ½ pounds)

Kosher salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

½ cup canola oil

3 cups vegetable stock

½ cup heavy cream

Freshly ground black pepper

Brown Butter Sauce

8 ounces goat butter or substitute Irish Butter (Irish Gold) or Plugrá

Juice of ½ Meyer lemon

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley

1 bunch watercress, washed, patted dry, and tough stems removed

Grated zest of 1 Meyer lemon

1 tablespoon pink peppercorns

For the cauliflower: Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Remove the green leaves from the cauliflower but leave the stem intact. Press a small ring mold or round cookie cutter into the bottom of the stem so that the head of the cauliflower will stand upright. Generally sprinkle the cauliflower with salt. Heat the butter and oil in a large, deep ovenproof skillet over medium heat and stand the cauliflower up in the skillet. Cook, occasionally spooning the hot butter and oil mixture over the cauliflower, for about 20 minutes, or until the outside of the cauliflower is golden brown.

Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast the cauliflower for about 20 minutes, until fork tender. Remove the cauliflower from the oven and let stand for 20 minutes. Turn off the oven and open the door to cool it down.

Sauce: Heat the butter in a small skillet over medium-high heat, stirring, until it is a golden brown and starts to smell slightly nutty, about 8 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat, add the lemon juice, and stir to emulsify.

Return the skillet to the heat and reduce the heat to low. Add turmeric and parsley and cook for 1 minute to blend the flavors. Keep the sauce warm on the back of the stove.

Remove the cauliflower from the ring mold. Slice the cauliflower crosswise into ½-inch thick slices. Reserve the 6 center slices for serving. Chop the remaining slices and any scraps and reserve. Lay the cauliflower slices on the prepared baking sheet and place it in the still warm oven (with the door closed) while you finish the dish.

Put the peelings from the stem and the reserved scraps in a small saucepan, add enough vegetable stock to cover and bring to a simmer. Add the cream and stir to combine. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend on high to a very smooth puree, about 7 minutes. Season with salt and white pepper.

To Complete: Make a pool of cauliflower puree in the center of each of six warm plates. Place a cauliflower slice on top of the puree on each plate and top with a small mound of watercress. Garnish with the slices of stem. Spoon the sauce on the cauliflower and sprinkle with the lemon zest and pink peppercorns.