Why I Love Paula Deen
Paula Deen's Thanksgiving, photographed by Alan Richardson for Ladies' Home Journal
I’ve been stewing about the scorn heaped on Paula Deen this week, after her announcement that she has Type 2 diabetes, and that she is working as spokesperson for a particular drug that treats the disease. The response of some within the food business has been scorn, indignation, a gleeful satisfaction. “Serves her right!” it seems, for foisting butter and fried chicken and doughnut-creations on an unsuspecting public all these years. A lot of it is just plain mean.
Her sins according to detractors include keeping her medical condition private, eating herself into a case of Type 2 diabetes, cooking naughty fatty foods on TV, and failing to prevent the obesity crisis that just showed up in America about fifteen minutes ago, thanks to Ms. Deen’s bad behavior alone. How dare she keep her personal medical condition private? How could she praise cheese grits and proffer fried chicken, knowing that America depends on her and her alone to teach us how to lead healthy lives? Has anyone watching her not already figured out that doughnuts are fattening? I think people watch her because she is happy, and generous of spirit, and she has a good time in the kitchen. Cooking shows aren’t culinary school and they are not educational television. They are entertainment, diversion, on the Food Network, not the Health Network, and we have programs like hers them because companies want to advertise their wares, which are often nutritionless-food items, whether Ms. Deen is the host or not. We don’t robotically go cook and eat what she shows us, anymore than we go suit up in helmet and shoulder pads and tackle our friends after watching Monday night football.
I love Paula Deen. She has created an amazing career in the food world, starting from scratch and creating monumental business success on her own despite more challenges than I have ever faced. She went through a divorce, becoming a single mother of two boys; she overcame agoraphobia, turned her home cooking into a income source, and built up an amazing family business on her own. She is Southern, she’s a grandmother, she’s a home cook who made her place in the food world. She loves food and cooking and she loves her family and friends. I think people watch her because she makes them feel good; she entertains them; she radiates “Yes!” and “Come on in!” and “Let’s have a good time with people we love!”
If her show were called “Paula Deen’s Nutrition Kitchen”, I would expect her to deliver health messages and cook in a healthful way. But she’s on the Food Network, and she earned her place in the world of wildly successful food stars by being herself, communicating with people through cooking the food she wants to cook the way she likes to cook it. What amazes me is the notion that Paula Deen should have been delivering messages about healthful eating all along, instead of celebrating fried foods, butter, and cheesey treats; that she alone, amongst the food-celebrity pantheon, is obligated to promote healthy nutritious food habits since she has our attention on the subject of food. Really? Should “Top Chef” and “Chopped” censor their ingredients so that the competing chefs can present healthful choices to us out here in TV land? Should Guy Fieri seek out healthy diners, drive-ins, and dives, instead of taking us into those dens of iniquity, those naughty joints that serve up hashbrowns, chili dogs and milkshakes? Should Anthony Bourdain check the sanitation ratings of every places he visits, so we don’t learn to risk our health and get germs? And Cake Boss? All those cakes, frosted and filled, sugar eggs and butter; and not even one salad, ever!
I don’t know what Ms. Deen eats, how much she eats, what time, how often, or where. I don’t know why she has gotten diabetes, and neither does anybody else. I know that health and illness in this world do not reflect “Fair”. I don’t know why I have not gotten diabetes. I eat rich, fattening foods and too much of them; I pay for a gym I haven’t been using, and I carry around pounds that are doing my joints no favors and taxing my heart. Meanwhile, my dear friend contracted Type 2 diabetes several years ago, even though he has always taken much better care of his health in terms of eating, weight, and activity than I have.
I do not love the fact that she is endorsing a medication, but then I don’t love the fact that medicines are advertised on television and promoted to doctors the way they are. That is how we do it here in the USA, and there’s no secret here. It’s a business relationship up front, and people can consider that fact as they evaluate her position on the drug.
I can’t imagine why she as an entertainer should disclose her medical condition to the public. Given the hostile response from so many, I can see why most of us tend to keep these things private. I can see not liking her, her style or her food. What bothers me is blaming her personally for the immense health problem of obesity that has been “on our plates” for many years and for many reasons. She alone amongst all the food-stars is accountable, bad and wrong. Even worse is the attitude that contracting diabetes is somehow a punishment she deserves. That’s not right.
I think what Paula Deen has been promoting for so many years is the pleasure of cooking and eating. She encourages people to cook, have fun, and make time to be at the table with people who matter to you. You don’t have to be Southern to know that that is good medicine; it’s especially good for the heart.
Nancie’s Good Gifts List for 2011
Good Gifts for Good Causes
Gifts and presents meant so much to me growing up in a Santa Clause-centered household. Giving, I learned early on, was more blessed than receiving, but truth be told, I never took that one to heart until I became a parent more than two decades ago. My Santa-list development involved much thought and longing. Bicycles, games and toys stayed at the top, with dolls, doll houses, books and an Easy-Bake Oven in rotation over the span of ages 3-to-12. A pony and a puppy made the list a few times, but when stuffed (that was our way of saying “plush”, children) versions of said creatures showed up, I got the message, and focused in on the realm of the possible. We knew to list many items, so that Santa had some leeway; these were options, not demands, and whatever was under the tree (unwrapped — Santa didn’t wrap gifts on our route) I recall as being gloriously enough. My family still asks me for lists, as I do of them, and moans when it skews toward kitchen gadgets (it is not my fault that I wear out oven thermometers and lose candy thermometers and cookie sheets when taking my cooking “show” on the road) and books. I already have, at this point in life, everything I need and plenty of things to give away ( as soon as I edit and get them to a donation place). So do many of my dear ones who share the blessing of having lived through many decades of holiday seasons.
This year of 2011 is winding to its end, and the tax-deductible gift-giving deadline is upon us. I’m making my list for donations, and perhaps you are doing so, too. In case you could use some inspiration, or are open to the power of suggestion, I’ve gathered a few candidates for your generosity which are dear to me. I like to support groups that I know about because of some personal connection, a version of acting locally as in “Think globally; Act locally!” Some are here in Piedmont North Carolina, and others are located far away but are near to my heart because I have come across them on my way through this good life I get to enjoy each day. This is to get you thinking — give to these folks if you wish; or think about what moves your heart, mind, and spirit and consider ending the year with donations in those directions. And if you’d like to share your own favorite groups and causes, let me know in the comments section. I am always delighted to know who is doing good things in the world, and how I can support them; this list can’t ever get too long. Happy New Year to you and all your dear ones!
SMALL is Beautiful:
Here are some small groups out there everyday, doing wonderful work that I love:
Friends of Thailand: Peace Corps Volunteer Project Sponsorship
My Peace Corps service in Thailand ended decades ago, but the Peace Corps’ presence in the kingdom of Thailand is still going strong. I’m a proud happy member of Friends of Thailand, an organization of former Peace Corps volunteers who served in Thailand as well as anyone who supports the mission of FOT, which is to celebrate and support Thailand and the Thai people. The FOT website will educate you as to FOT’s past and present work, mission and activities. One particular good thing is the opportunity to support current Peace Corps Volunteers living and working in Thailand today. You need not be a member of FOT to donate to this good work. My good friend Carolyn Nickels-Cox works hard to keep this group going and growing and the opportunity to put a small amount of money to work in support of Thai people and PCV’s is a real gift. Donation checks to the FoT Project Fund need to be made out to Friends of Thailand, with reference to the Project Fund on the memo line, and mailed to:
Friends of Thailand
c/o Carolyn Nickels-Cox
1418 Striped Bass Street, Unit D
San Francisco, CA 94130
You can also donate online at the website of Friends of Thailand.
The Music Maker Relief Foundation
This organization is based in Hillsborough, NC, and works in multiple and creative ways to find and support musicians whose life’s work benefited (and in many many cases still benefits) the world, but whose compensation for that work was not what it should have been, given the world they lived and made music in. Read all about their work at their website; they have an excellent track record and a powerful positive attitude about what can be done to right old wrongs and support artists in every possible way. Living national treasures are out there and I love what MMRF does to find them and lift them up and celebrate their work past and present.
Music Maker Relief Foundation
PO Box 1358
Hillsborough, NC 27278 919-643-2456
Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association
Shea Yeleen is a business and a non-profit, created by a former Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Mali and came home wanting to help women in rural West African communities to benefit from their traditions of work in the production of shea butter. You can support Shea Yeleen both buy donating to the work of the non-profit as well as by being a customer. Shea Yeleen sells natural body-care products and it’s a win-win for you and them when we purchase their excellent fair-trade products. I found out about Shea Yeleen at the Peace Corps 50th Anniversary programs at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival this past summer, and loved meeting women from Ghana who had come to Washington DC to share their work and their business with festival visitors. You can donate and shop online, or contact them here:
Shea Yeleen International, Inc.
280 Madison Avenue
Suite 912
New York, New York 10016 Tel: 212-386-5576
Spoken Revolutions
Based in Chapel Hill, NC, Spoken Revolutions is an amazing program created by my good friends Kevin and Suepinda, who are the founders of Spoken Rev’s parent organization, CHC PACT: Chapel Hill-Carrboro Parents Advocating for Children Together. I’m a member and have watched with awe and gratitude as they have worked with teachers, parents and administration within our local school system to make our schools great places where every child can learn, grow and succeed. This cycling program sent a group of local high school students on an 1800 mile bike-tour of the longest route of the Underground Railroad in the summer of 2011. Read all about it on their website and blog, and consider donating to support their work. Donations go through The ReCYCLEry NC, another fine organization dedicated to getting kids on bikes and getting them riding. They have a big celebration of last year’s trip coming up in January, and their cycle adventure for summer 2012 is in the planning stages. I am proud to be friends with Kevin and Suepinda, and delighted to be supporting their amazing work and the young people to whom they are so creatively dedicated.
The Tasting Cultures Foundation
The Tasting Cultures Foundation
250 West 90th Street #8D
NY, NY 10024
My friend Sarah Khan created the Tasting Cultures Foundation and here is a bite of what she says about TCF: “The Tasting Cultures Foundation collaborates with artists, educators, community groups, scientists, chefs and culinary experts, farmers, and environmental advocates to create dynamic educational materials and multimedia events that explore the rich variety of global foodways and the manner in which these cultural practices influence our lives; our communities; and our local, regional, and global ecosystems.” I met her when TCF presented an extraordinary and moving performance by Theaster Gates and the Black Monks of Mississippi as the Sunday morning program for the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium in 2010. Sarah is a genius and a force-field of energy for art, music, community, cooking, nutrition, humor, justice and fun; she writes, produces, explores, and works in her professional fields of public health, plant science, nutrition, and ethnobotany. Explore the TCF website and see what she has cooking. You will love supporting her ever-evolving and meaningful work.
And BIG is Beautiful, Too!
These are some of my favorite big-time organizations. I like to highlight groups like the ones above, ones without a big name and reach. It’s a privilege to support the work of bigger groups who have the power to make a difference on a larger scale. Here are my favorites, big groups with big hearts and big impacts.
Boys and Girls Clubs of America
My father grew up on East 53rd Street in New York City, and always spoke with warmth of good times at the Kips Bay Boys Club. Both he and my younger sister Susanne worked hard for the Boys and Girls Club of High Point, NC for many years. They loved being part of the Boys and Girls Club programs. Sports, arts, leadership, tutoring, community: Boys and Girls Clubs have a hundred years behind them and a 21st century attitude, all around the country.
Having taught school for a number of years, and having many friends and family members “in the business”, I know personally how much teachers do for the world, for kids, and for free. We overwork them, underpay them, and yet there they are, showing up every day to educate and inspire youngsters. I never knew a teacher who didn’t reach into her own pocket on behalf of her students. Donors Choose allows you to back them up; to find classroom teachers who request specific financial support on projects they’ve dreamed up for their students. You can browse by city or state or region; academic subjects or arts or sports; technical equipment, classroom-sized sets of books, a particular grade level — . I’ve loved doing this and I’ve loved receiving messages from the teachers and students when the project is complete.
I love the Southern Foodways Alliance and I can’t shake the vain feeling that it was created just for me; like they read my mind and dream up projects and activities that I would have designed myself if I had had just a little more time on my hands. Turns out there are many many people out there who feel the same way, who love and cherish the food, cooking, culture, history and traditions of the Southern table, and adore SFA for serving it and serving it up for all of us. I’ve been a member for years, and not only does SFA do fine work in documenting and preserving foodways, they host delicious, fun, educational events. Their oral history work, led by Amy Evans Streeter, is a gift to the world, one that grows better by the year.
Based in Montgomery, Alabama, SPLC provides everyday superhero-service against the forces of evil, with a tireless, dedicated, brilliant, energetic team determined to fight hatred and bigotry and get justice for people who have been wronged. As they put it on the website: “The Southern Poverty Law Center is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. Using litigation, education and other forms of advocacy, we work toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality.” They are not afraid, they fight hard and well, and they win. They also work to educate, inspire and create community with positive, proactive work, particularly in schools.
Walk through an airport and you will see service members in uniform on their way to and from their places of work, which tend to be far away from home and putting them in harms’ way. The USO has a long history of taking care of a few of their needs in countless ways, here in the USA and wherever they are stationed around the world. They serve those who are serving, in more ways than I can count, and they do it well. Love backing them up.
Short and sweet, the YWCA’s website and logo say it all: “YWCA is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.” Since 1858 they have been doing extraordinary, powerful work in every aspect of women’s lives. Their 21st century work on behalf of women, girls, and families, is moving, focused, energetic, comprehensive, and smart.
Nancie’s Holiday Gift List: Cookbooks from the 2011 Bumper Crop
Here is my list of wonderful, marvelous, varied, worthy, fascinating, beautiful, interesting, practical, fanciful, thoughtful, moving, funny, poignant, truthful, inspiring, delicious, fine, and worthy cookbooks and food-centric books that are on my list for 2011. It’s a long, no, make that generous and thorough list. There is no short list. It is completely subjective and very personal, and if you know me well, you will know that many of these authors are my friends. Not all of them, but many of them. I love my work, which brings me into friendships with people who share my fascination and love of food, cooking, history, stories, and such. This is not a list of the Very Best — it’s a list of my favorites, and I know I left something out. I was going to comment on each one, but that would have made this the 90,000 word post (verbosity is my blessing and flaw), so I leave you to figure out why I like each one (different reasons), or more importantly, whether you might want to buy a given book for your own kitchen or as a gift for someone who would enjoy it and appreciate you. Please go to or order from an independent bookseller. They are angels straight from God, and it’s not easy in 2011 to make a living, even a Bob Cratchit-level living, from being a merchant of words, stories, pictures and ideas. I want them to prosper and stay open. If you need to find the lowest price, no harm done. But if you, like me, are lucky enough to have discretion in what you spend and where, consider being a patron of booksellers and authors (Full disclosure: I am one and surely my opinion is colored by that fact.) But here we are. You can find a bookstore near (-ish) to you, or find ways to order these books, by going to http://www.indiebound.org/ . Holiday greetings and happy winter wishes to you. And if I missed your favorite food-centric book this year, tell me all about it in commentland!
All About Roasting: A New Approach to a Classic Art
Molly Stevens
Ancient Grains for Modern Meals: Mediterranean Whole Grain Recipes
for Barley, Farro, Kamut, Polenta, Wheat Berries, and More
Maria Speck
Basic to Brilliant, Y’all: 150 Refined Southern Recipes and Ways to Dress Them Up for Company
Virginia Willis
Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef
by Gabrielle Hamilton
Big Vegan: More than 350 Recipes, No Meat, No Dairy, All Delicious
Robin Asbell
Cake Ladies: Celebrating a Southern Tradition
Jodi Rhoden
Chicken and Egg: A Memoir of Suburban Homesteading
Janice Cole
Cooking in the Moment: A Year of Seasonal Recipes
Andrea Reusing
Cooking in Other Women’s Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South, 1865 – 1960
Rebecca Sharpless
Preserving, Bartering, and Eating Locally (All on Forty Dollars a Week)
Robin Mather
Paula Wolfert
French Classics: A 10-Minute Souffle, a Contemporary Bouillabaisse, a Lighter, Quicker Cassoulet –
250 Great Recipes Simplified for the Modern kitchen
Richard Grausman
Domenica Marchetti
High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America
Jessica B. Harris
Julia M. Usher’s Ultimate Cookies
Julia M. Usher
Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn’t Cook From Scratch
Jennifer Reese
Masala Farm: Stories and Recipes from an Uncommon Life in the Country
Suvir Saran
A Mess of Greens: Southern Gender and Southern Food
Elizabeth S.D. Englehardt
The New Southern Garden Cookbook: Enjoying the Best
from Homegrown Gardens, Farmers’ Markets, Roadside Stands, and CSA Farm Boxes
Sheri Castle
The New Southern-Latino Table: Recipes that Bring Together
the Boldand Beloved Flavorsof Latin America and the American South
Sandra Gutierrez
Quick-Fix Southern: Homemade Hospitality in 30 Minutes or Less
Rebecca Lang
Sara Foster’s Southern Kitchen: Soulful, Traditional, Seasonal
Sara Foster
A Southerly Course: Recipes and Tales from Close to Home
Martha Hall Foose
Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart
Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook
Edited by Sara Roahen and John T. Edge
A Spoonful of Promises: Stories and Recipes from a Well-Tempered Table
T. Susan Chang
Ramin Ganeshram
Sunday Roasts: A Year’s Worth of Mouthwatering Roasts,
from Old-Fashioned Pot Roasts to Glorious Turkeys, and Legs of Lamb
Betty Rosbottom
Supernatural Everyday: Well-Loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen
Heidi Swanson
Sweet Auburn Desserts: Recipes from Atlanta’s Little Bakery That Could
Sonya Jones
Tart Love: Sassy, Savory, and Sweet
Holly Herrick
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts: Secrets and Recipes for the Home Baker
Jess Thompson
Well, Shut My Mouth! The Sweet Potatoes Restaurant Cookbook
Stephanie L Tyson
You made it all the way to the end! How wonderful. May I wish you the very best as this year of 2011 winds down and the New Year of 2012 blooms open like a winter sunrise, slowly and filled with promise, hope, and if we are lucky, friendship and love. “God bless us every one!” as Tiny Tim hollered in his outside voice.
Holiday Breakfast Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake
Mother’s Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake, photographed by Becky Lugart-Stayner
This classic cake makes an excellent centerpiece for Christmas morning breakfast, which is when my mother always served it to our family prior to the gift-fest around the Christmas tree. She made it ahead of time and warmed it up gently in the oven, covered with foil. I do the same thing, but we go right to the Christmas tree and turn to orange juice, coffee, and this simple and wonderful cake as a breather. Country-style sausage patties, scrambled eggs, cream gravy, and biscuits follow, once every present has been opened, and all that holds us until a Christmas dinner much later in the day. I love this time of year, and I love going to my local grocery store and seeing a major section of the green metal shelves lining the baking aisle completely empty, except for a snowy dusting of flour. Clearly, people who don’t bake constantly turn to it and hooray for that! I hope this time of year pleases you, whether you decorate, bake, and watch favorite movies, or whether you travel, hibernate, or pass the time in simple ways.
Mother’s Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake
Cinnamon-Raisin Filling
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
Coffee Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspooon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Heat the oven to 350 F, and grease and flour a 13-by-9-inch pan. To make the filling, combine the light brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a medium bowl, and stir with a fork to mix everything well. Combine the raisins and pecans in another bowl and toss to mix them. Place the cinnamon mixture, the nut mixture, and the melted butter by the baking pan.
To make the coffeecake batter, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, and stir with a fork to mix them together well. Stir the vanilla into the milk. In a large bowl, combine the butter and the sugar, and beat with a mixer at high speed, stopping to scrape down the bowl, until they are pale yellow and evenly mixed, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl now and then, until the mixture is smooth and light.
Using a large spoon or a spatula, add about a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and stir only until the flour disappears. Add about a third of the milk and mix it in. Repeat two more times with the remaining flour and milk, stirring just enough each time to keep the batter smooth.
Spread half the batter evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan. Sprinkle half the cinnamon mixture over the batter, followed by half the melted butter. Scatter half the raisins and nuts over the batter, and then carefully spread the remaining batter over the filling, using a spatula or a spoon to smooth the surface all the way to the edges of the pan. Repeat the process, using the remaining cinnamon mixture, butter, and nut mixture to cover the cake evenly.
Bake at 350 F for 45 to 50 minutes, until the cake is golden brown, fragrant, and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool the cake in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes on wire racks or a folded kitchen towel, and then serve in squares right from the pan. The cake is delicious hot, warm, or at room temperature.
This recipe comes from Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations (Chronicle Books 2007), by Nancie McDermott. All rights reserved.
Bill Smith’s Daddy’s Sweet Potato Pie
Crook's Corner Chef Bill Smith's Daddy's pie: Ideal for Thanksgiving, but so good I make it and eat it all year-round. Leigh Beisch's gorgeous photo from "Southern Pies"
Pumpkin pie suits me fine, and I gladly eat it all year long. With Thanksgiving meals on my mind this week, I wanted to share a simple treasure that my friend Bill Smith shared with me about 3 years ago. When he was in his early 60′s, my father began making the pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving, and he continued that tradition as long as his health permitted, which means well into his 80′s. He just decided to try it, buying frozen pie shells from the grocery store and following the recipe on the side of a can of pureed pumpkin. I loved that, and when I asked Bill for a pie recipe and he offered that his father is Mr. Sweet Potato Pie, it delighted me because of the Dad-connection, as well as because of the fact that I adore sweet potato pie. Sweet potatoes in any form (including with minimarshmallows) please me deeply, and sweet potato pie is high on my list of everyday sweet pleasures.
I featured Bill’s recipe here on my blog a little over one year ago, when my pie book had just been published and I was making and posting a number of pies to celebrate its debut. For this one, I made it in mini-muffin tins, to share that simple way of making a wonderful home-baked dessert that is easy to share at gatherings. No cutting pieces and transporting them to plates with trepidation: you pop those pie-ettes out of their muffin-tin-positions and you have a hand-held sweet that looks lovely and allows people not only to choose and eat fork-free, but also to enjoy small bites when there are many treats from which to choose.
There are two schools of sweet potato pie preparation, one swearing by roasting/baking the sweet potatoes, and the other devoted to boiling them. I have tried both ways and gotten excellent results each time. I like baking because I can put in more than I need and have a baked sweet potato or two or three in the fridge for speedy microwave lunch on hand. I like boiling because it keeps them right there where I can check on them easily with the fork-test, and because I love peeling a boiled potato, when the skin slips right off and you see the smooth perfection of sweet-potato’s inside color and shape, sans peel, as if they just took off their winter coats. This all reminds me to go visit Mr. Stanley Hughes of Pine Knot Farms at the Carrboro Farmer’s Market this week, as he is the grower and purveyor of the very finest sweet potatoes in the whole wide world, right up the road about 20 miles north of here in Hurdle Mills, NC. I need to stock up for fall lunches, for Thanksgiving casserole preparation, and for some just-because-it’s-Thursday/Saturday/gorgeous autumn day sweet potato pie.
Bill Smith’s Daddy’s Sweet Potato Pie
1 9-inch unbaked piecrust
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 /4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups mashed cooked sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds)
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract, or vanilla extract
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the flour, spices, baking powder and salt in a little bowl and use a fork to mix them well. In a medium bowl, lighten the sweet potatoes by beating them well with a whisk, an electric mixer, or a big wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, and stir well each time to mix them evenly. Add the sugar and beat to mix well. Add the sugar-and-spice mixture, the sweetened condensed milk , melted butter, and lemon or vanilla extract. Mix everything together evenly and well. (If using a mixer, use low speed.) Pour the thick filling into the piecrust. Place in the 350 degree oven and bake until the filling puffs up (especially around the edges, and is firm enough that it jiggles only a little at the center, 40 to 50 minutes. You can test it by inserting a wooden tooth pick or a bamboo or wooden skewer or even the blade of a paring knife in the center; it should come out clean, no filling sticking too it. (That would mean it needs longer cooking time to cook through to the center.) Place on a cooling rack or a folded kitchen towel, and cool to room temperature.
This pie recipe is adapted from Southern Pies: A Gracious Plenty of Pie Recipes, from Lemon Chess to Chocolate Pecan,(Chronicle Books, October 2010). Copyright: Nancie McDermott, all rights reserved.
“Big Vegan” Potluck with Korean Miso-Tofu Soup
When my good friend Robin Asbell asked me to be part of an online potluck celebrating her brand new book, Big Vegan, I said “Yes!” real fast. Robin is an accomplished and prolific food writer and brilliant cooking teacher. She knows food and cooking, and her inspired recipes remind me how much pleasure there is in eating good-for-me food. Though Robin lives up in Minnesota and I’m way down here in North Carolina, she got me in on today’s potluck feast, along with fellow bloggers around the country. Our various posts make up a meal from her book, giving you the flavor of its wide-ranging recipes, from scones and smoothies to soups, stews, pastas, sweet and savory pies, and more. Robin ends this volume with a luscious round-up of dessert recipes, including Pistachio Thumbprints, Lemon Cake with Pomegranate Filling and Orange Glaze, Pumpkin-Cherry Bundt Cake, and Ginger-Mango Rice Pudding. My potluck contribution is a rustic and satisfying Korean-style soup, made with a hearty miso-powered stock and boasting a beautiful bowlful of textures and flavors: daikon radish, fresh shiitake mushrooms, tofu, potato, zucchini, and red peppers.
By the way, Robin is providing me a copy of Big Vegan to give away to one of you wonderful readers. Leave a comment after this post, and I will draw a name to see who wins that treasury of great eating. Comment by November 10 to be included in the drawing.
Here are the ingredients for the soup stock. At 12:00 o’clock, you’ll see squares of dark green kombu, a sturdy and intensely flavored seaweed with a feisty little pile of coarsely ground chiles on top. To the right are garlic cloves and onion, dried shiitake mushrooms at 6:00 o’clock, slices of daikon radish and fresh ginger at 9:00 and 10:00 o’clock respectively. In the center is the engine that drives this soup to flavorful heights: Miso, a fermented soybean paste beloved in Asian kitchens for centuries and an essential ingredient in the traditional cooking of Korea and Japan.
After simmering these ingredients together to make an excellent stock, I strained out all the taste-makers, keeping their mighty flavors and composting their remaining elements. Then I returned the soup pot of great stock to the stove and added the tasty items pictured below. At the top are green onions thinly sliced on the diagonal along with small strips of red Fresno chile. Had I not found red Fresno chile, I think red bell pepper would have worked just fine. Next are chunks of zucchini, slices of fresh shiitakes, and cubes of both potato and soft tofu.
Once the stock was ready, I could have set it aside for later, or even frozen it for future soups. It would be a marvelous frozen-pantry item to have ready, definitely one to consider making in quantity to keep on hand. Big Vegan includes several recipes for making a quantity of vegan stock with various flavor profiles. The soup stock was rich and fragrant, and we were hungry, so I quickly forgot all thoughts of putting it aside and instead finished up the recipe, in the time it took the potatoes to cook. Then in went the zucchini and tofu, and supper was ready; fast, fresh, and fine. I wanted to make the soup with whatever I could find at my local Whole Foods. This meant using a dark miso with rich, very deep flavor. With red or white miso from an Asian market, this soup would be a little more delicate, a good choice for springtime meals. All in all, the recipe gave us a hearty, gorgeously-hued bowl of soup/stew, perfect for the rainy fall evening on which we ate it for supper. The true test of its deliciousness was when my high-school aged daughter (who had eaten dinner) wanted a bowl of Korean Miso-Tofu Soup with rice as an 11:13 p.m. homework snack. This Big Vegan soup would work well as one of several dishes in a rice-centered meal, or paired up with a salad and Quick Indian Flatbreads (page 106), or Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits (page 103), or your favorite sandwiches. For the recipe, scroll down to the end of this post. To learn more about Robin Asbell, and to check out all the bloggers and recipes in this Big Vegan Potluck, look at these links below. A baker’s dozen of recipes by food bloggers who love Big Vegan: Here we go!
This is Robin’s website and blog:
You can find Big Vegan wherever books are sold, as they say. For a link to independent booksellers around the country, click here:
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780811874670
To find Big Vegan on Amazon, click here:
To enter my drawing for a copy of Big Vegan: leave a comment on this blogpost, and do so before November 10th. Many thanks to Robin Asbell and Chronicle Books for providing a big, gorgeous copy of this excellent, gorgeous and worthwhile book to share with one of my readers.
Korean Miso-Tofu Soup
(doenjang jigae)
4 large dried shiitake or black mushrooms
3 oz/85 g daikon, peeled and sliced
1/2 medium onion, sliced
1 6-in/15-cm piece dried kombu
7 tbsp/90 ml dark miso
4 slices/11 g fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, halved
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cups/360 g cubed zucchini/courgette
8 oz/225 g cubed red potato
4 ox/115 g fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed
12 oz/3400 g silken tofu, cubed
1 large red Fresno chile, slivered, for garnish
2 large scallions/spring onions, diagonally sliced, for garnish
1. Put 2 qt/2 L water in a large pot and add the dried mushrooms, daikon, onion, kombu, miso, ginger, garlic, and pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer for 20 minutes. (I let mine simmer 45, since I wasn’t in a hurry and wanted its flavors to have more time to blossom). Line a colander with a sturdy paper towel/absorbent paper and set it over a bowl. Strain the liquid through the paper, carefully shifting the vegetables to the sides to help it drain completely. Discard the solids.
2. Add the broth to a large pot and bring it to a simmer. Add the zucchini/courgette, potato, and shiitakes and cook for about 10 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked all the way through.
3. Add the tofu and simmmer for about 5 minutes to heat through. Serve the soup in bowls garnished with the chile and scallions/spring onions.
Serves 4
Virginia Willis Does It Again: “Basic to Brilliant, Y’all”
My good friend Virginia Willis is a lot like the title of her brand new book: Basic to Brilliant, Y’all: 150 Refined Southern Recipes and Ways to Dress Them Up for Company. Virginia is basic, as in down-to-earth, real, practical and good; and she is also brilliant, as in creative, intelligent, accomplished, and inspiring. In this book, her second, she provides us with an extraordinary repertoire of recipes for snacks, feasts, picnics, beach trips, romantic suppers, family reunions — each and every excuse for a food-graced gathering can be deliciously handled by anyone in possession of this superb cookbook. Virginia sets us up with a library of knowledge about cooking, both for everyday and for company, drawn from the hearty and gracious Georgia cooking of her childhood, and the classic French culinary expertise she gained during her years studying and then working in France at Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne. Particularly interesting are her chapter introductions, ranging from a thoughtful discourse on the economics, ethics, and people behind the meat we put on our tables, to a meditation on rice culture and the goodness of grits, and a valentine to vegetables, the latter with delicious detours into life on the set in the many television studios where Virginia worked as Kitchen Director for folks like Martha Stewart, Bobby Flay, and Nathalie Dupree. Her introductions fascinate, educate and captivate me, but they never take me too far away from the food. Don’t you want to get in the kitchen and make Mama’s Sausage Swirls; Chicken Breasts with Tarragon Veloute; Beef Daube Provencal; Pinto Beans with Side Meat; Chateau du Fey Cherry Clafoutis; and Dede’s Burnt Caramel Cake? I know I do, and with Virginia’s clear, inviting voice flowing off the page, I know I can do so, even the ones for dishes I’ve never tried to cook, and thought could only come from the hands of bona fide chefs. You need to invite Virginia Willis into your kitchen, and this book allows you to do just that. You can learn more about her at her website:
http://www.virginiawillis.com/
I broke in my brand new copy, which I was thrilled to receive from Virginia’s publisher, Ten Speed Press, with a dish my father adored, and one I had to come around to as a grown up: Brussels sprouts. “Of course you don’t like them if the only way you’ve ever had them was cooked to stinky mush!” Virginia notes on page 195 of the Vegetable chapter in Basic to Brilliant, Y’all. She cooks them with bacon, onions, and apples, a dandy little chorus for the beautiful tiny cabbages I’ve learned to adore. Virginia calls for Granny Smith apple, but I like a sweeter apple such as a gala or a fuji myself.
Virginia Willis’s Sautéed Brussels Sprouts With Apples and Bacon
1 pound Brussels sprouts, cut in half (or peeled according to directions below)
2 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into lardons
1 onion, preferably Vidalia, chopped
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch dice
Leaves from 2 sprigs thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add Brussels sprouts and cook until bright green and just tender, about 5 minutes; drain and set aside.
In a skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium, add the onion, and sauté until translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the apple and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apple is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Add the Brussels sprouts and toss to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the parsley and toss to coat. Taste and adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper. Transfer to a warmed serving platter and serve immediately.
To make it brilliant: Cut about ¼ inch off the stem end of each sprout and begin peeling off the leaves. When difficult to peel further, trim off another ¼ inch and continue removing leaves. Repeat to peel all leaves from the sprouts; discard the tiny cores. Follow the basic recipe above, but no need to blanch the sprouts. Add the leaves to the onion and apple. Sauté until the leaves are bright green and slightly wilted but still crunchy, about 3 minutes. Taste and adjust for seasoning with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve immediately.
Serves 4 to 6
Copyright Virginia Willis @2011. Published by Ten Speed Press. All rights reserved.
Sunday Snapshot:
Seen from my 'satellite office' in Chapel Hill, NC. Cup a Joe serves up perfect coffee with a perfect autumn view on the side.
Doughnut Bread Pudding? Yes, please…
This is delicious and you can make it at home. I came across the recipe on Leite’s Culinaria, which is a food-and-cooking destination which I recommend to you with enthusiasm and pleasure. There you’ll find excellent writing, superb and varied recipes, gorgeous photographs, opinions, ideas, and all-around food fun. My friend Jess Thomson has written a new book for fall: “Hand-Forged Doughnuts: Secrets and Recipes for the Home Cook”, based on the delectable creations at Top Pot Doughnuts in Seattle, where Jess resides, cooks, and writes. I was headed out to the first regular meeting of a new local organization, Culinary Historians of Piedmont North Carolina, and the photo drew me in while the simple-to-make recipe called out, “This will work!” I was off to the grocery store to grab a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, milk, and eggs. The pudding was simple, speedy, and super-loved by one and all. Served many people due to its rich goodness.
All stirred up and ready for the oven..
Jess’s writing and recipes on her blog, “Hogwash”, are better than the doughnut bread pudding, and you can sign up to get her posts in your e-mail inbox, as I do. Here are links which you can paste into your browser, in order to find the recipe, Jess’s blog post about the book, and info about Top Pot Doughnuts in Seattle, and where to buy the book. Keep it sweet, now….
For the Doughnut Bread Pudding recipe, visit Leite’s Culinaria, at this address:
http://leitesculinaria.com/75448/recipes-doughnut-pudding.html
For a behind-the-scenes, typically brilliant, witty, fascinating essay by Jess Thomson, author of the doughnut book, go to her blog, “Hogwash”, at this address:
http://jessthomson.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/what-i-didnt-tell-you-about-the-doughnut-cookbook/
For info on Jess Thomson’s mighty-fine doughnut cookbook, “Hand-Forged Doughnuts: Secrets and Recipes for the Home Baker”, and the bakery behind the book, visit Top Pot Doughnuts’ website, at this address:
http://www.toppotdoughnuts.com/
Shaking Beef with Peppery Watercress
Photograph by Colin Erricson, Copyright 2007.
This recipe comes from my biggest cookbook, 300 Best Stir-Fry Recipes, published by Robert Rose, Inc., 2007. You could cook it in a heavy skillet, a frying pan, or a wok. While stir-fries often need a large, deep pan with room for tossing and turning all the ingredients, this one needs only a medium-sized pan, because only the beef is cooked. We enjoy this with rice as the centerpiece of an Asian style meal, but it goes wonderfully with baked potatoes, quinoa, couscous, or garlic toast.
Vietnamese-Style Shaking Beef with Peppery Watercress
Absolutely gorgeous and delicious, this Vietnamese take on steak is a perfect choice when you want a special dish, which can be prepared in advance and sizzled up just before. A simple salad of watercress and red onions serves as the foundation for tender steak. You could use spinach instead of watercress. If it is very tender, no change is needed. If it is beyond the baby-spinach stage, cook it very briefly in the pan after removing the cooked beef. Then toss it with the dressing and red onions and serve with the beef.
12 ounces thick-cut tender beef steak (rib-eye, New York strip, tri-tip)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, divided
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
2 tablespoons white or cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup very thinly sliced red onion
2 cups very coarsely chopped watercress (bite-sized pieces)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
To prepare the beef, cut the steak into chunks, about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. In a bowl, combine fish sauce, soy sauce, ½ tsp sugar, ½ tsp pepper, and ¼ tsp salt and stir well. Add steak and stir to coat well. Set aside for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine vinegar, 1 tsp oil, and remaining sugar, pepper, and salt. Add onion and toss well to separate into thin strips and mix evenly with dressing. Add watercress but leave it on top of onions and dressing (you will toss it just before serving).
Heat a wok or a large deep skillet over high heat. Add 2 tbsp oil and swirl to coat pan. Add steak mixture and spread into a single Layer. Cook, undisturbed, until nicely browned, for 1 to 2 minutes . Shake pan to turn meat and start browning on other side; use a spatula or slotted spoon if needed
Add garlic, scattering over beef and cook, undisturbed, for 1 minute more. Shake pan again. Cook, shaking, and scooping as needed, until meat is brown and cooked to desired doneness, 1 to 2 minutes more.
Remove pan from heat and set aside while you finish salad. Toss watercress well to dress it and mix with onions. Spread salad on a serving plate. Place beef on top. Serve hot or warm.
Note: If you can’t find watercress, use spinach leaves or a mix of salad greens instead.
Copyright: Nancie McDermott, 2011. All rights reserved.
