Hush Puppies

-hushin' dem puppies-

every culture seems to have their own catchy name for this deep fried treat / side dish. i've heard name that range from "corn doggers" to "corn fritters" to "mandoca" in venezuela to "yanikeke" in the dominical republic to my favorite "festivals" in jamaica. yep, believe it people places outside of the american bible belt enjoy these miraculously simply and tasty bites. everyone loves deep fried balls of cornmeal dough - everyone. you can vary the sweet to savory ratios and easily move from side dish to dessert - or carnival fare.

now for a bit of american southern history (supposed history - which can describe about 60% of all my "historical" knowledge). evidently history has it that these little guys were usually tossed to the dogs by hunters, soldiers even runaway slaves to "hush the puppies". pretty clever eh? funny because when i do make these - which is rare, but holds as a semi-yearly summer farm tradition - they never make it to anyplace other than the grubby hands of the beer macerated men folk. a puppy would never have a chance of tasting one of these.

HUSH PUPPIES

-or whatever you call em'-

1c cornmeal

1/2c flour

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

16 oz cream corn

1/2c finely minced onion

milk if needed

oil for frying

*heat 2"-3" of oil to 350F

*in a large bowl combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder

*in a separate bowl combine the cream corn and onions

*add the corn mixture to the flour mixture and stir to combine - add a bit of milk if the batter seems too thick. it should be about the constancy of a thick muffin or quick bread batter.

*drop by the tablespoonful into the preheated oil and fry, turning once, until golden. this should take only 2-3 minutes.

*place on a paper towel lined plate and serve with ketchup or my favorite, tartar sauce.

Thanksgiving 09 - 2nd annual Farm style

well, we are officially in post thanksgiving mode - also known as "the holidays". starting with the christmas party josh and i met at to last years thanksgiving day that we got engaged, i suppose that this season is officially my favorite (don't worry easter i still adore you more than any other).

this year consisted of a close group of friends, an amazing location and tons of delish foodstuff - and even an adorable baby! surprisingly i pulled off a dinner for 6 without an major disasters or breaking a sweat. the baby enjoyed a champagne cork (don't act you haven't done the same after a little too much "holiday cheer"). Seemed everyone's favorite was a tie between the rosemary lemon bread w/ honey butter and the pumpkin pie w/ homemade whipped cream. my favorite (which i freakishly tried to push on everyone) was the guinness molasses ginger bundt cake. OMG! i am officially obsessed with that cake!

below is a menu from the dinner - if you are interested in a recipe of any of these, just put through a request and i'll hook you up.

Thyme Roasted Chicken

Gravy

Mashed Potatoes

Caramelized Onion Cornbread dressing

Sweet Potato Casserole

Cranberry Orange Sauce

Honey Glazed Carrots

Sautéed Green Beans

Rosemary Lemon Bread (w/ Honey butter)

Walnut Bread (w/ Maple butter)

Cranberry Orange Loaf

Pumpkin Pie (w/ Fresh Whipped Cream)

Apple Pie

Guinness Molasses Ginger Cake

Pies, birthdays and Saum

summer has finally begun! i think.

anyways like the summers before josh and i trek upstate to our freind dave's farm as much as our wallets and schedules will allow. the 4th was no exception - just add about a bigilloin other fun-loving (late) 20 somethings. ahh the fun! and confusion.

anyways, it was a friend's (most current) girlfriend's birthday - i can't remember her name. and she didn't like cake. interesting and a little disturbing, but ok. she did like pie however, especially peach pie. i'm no expert at peach pies - apple yes, peach not so much. so add to that a single oven, 6 (no exaggeration) other half drunk and over heated cooks, one guy who is allergic to everything but avocados and one - yes one - moderately sized oven and you have yourself a little bit of stressful fun. ahh a baker's dream. i mean really i love my share of 30lb pork ribs, some undefined bag of shrimp and 10lbs of beef floating around the same counter i am trying to roll out a delicate and very sensitive pie dough and everything, but sometime you just wish it was the early morning before anyone else has even begun to wake up and your all alone in the kitchen, silently working. lah dee dah! but at least i had my lovely friend saum who like me was panicked in the kitchen for 4hours - he was having a serious problem pealing boiled eggs - but he seemed to pull it all off just in time to sit and watch the pies cooling on the window sill (ready and willing to cut in). love ya saum! i like to complain but once it was all said and done the pies came out well - one apple and one peach. even the allergic guy had a piece of the pie.

Apple Pie

i can't tell you how many times i have made this pie. every single time it has been perfect. to top that all off it was also the pie that i made for the thanksgiving dinner i made for josh and i the day he proposed. ahhh. i know! so i guess there could be some bias there. non-the-less i have never gotten bad or mixed (which to me is bad) review on this pie.

in the summers when

we go up to our friend's farm and there are pink ladys available i feel almost obliged to cook this up. it just makes sense and what could be more fun that watching southern raised city boys play horse shoe, drink cheap beer and eat apple pie?! i love it!

APPLE PIE

Crust: click here

FIlling:

3lbs peeled apples, cut into 1/2" cubes

1/4c sugar

1/4c packed brown sugar

1tbs cornstarch

1 tbs lemon juice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

2 tbs unsalted butter, cubed

1 egg, beaten

*preheat oven to 450F

*roll out one half of chilled dough, line bottom of our pie pan with it - place back in frig until ready to fill

*in a large bowl combine all ingredients except butter & egg

*roll out the other half of chilled dough

*pour filling into prepared bottom crust, distribute butter on top of the filling

*top with the other half of dough, pinching ends to make a decorative edge

*brush with beaten egg

*place in oven and cook for 10 minutes, lower heat to 350F and cook for another 40-50 minutes

*let cool completely (at least a hour) before cutting.

Honey Whole Wheat Walnut Cake

about every 3-5 months josh and i actually coordinate our schedules long enough to make a trip out to our friend dave's "farm". why the quotations? because to me a farm has animals of some kind or a product or some form that is farmed. i have grandparents that are real farmers and yes they have cows, chickens, sheep (which i loathe. ugh what the hell is up with sheep?), corn, rice, crawfish. i mean you name it those two farmed it and it was nothing fancy just a little house, a barn, bunch of land and lot of animal poo.

so when this amazing 80 acres of land that is filled with random pieces of art from the previous owner: mr. alan d'arcangelo, is called a farm it just don't sit right you know? i would have to say its more a camp. yesss. a camp. my parents have a camp. in other words its the weekend house built out in the middle of the woods in the town my father grew up in. just a get away from the big mean city/office. yeah a camp - not a farm just a place you go to be difficult to get in touch with. am i right?

non-the-less, every time we make it up to the catskills to visit the "farm" i make sure we stop by the local old man's house who offers a gallon of local honey for $18. yes that is correct - a gallon! so needless to say we love honey in this apartment and when i came across a recipe for a honey walnut cake what was there to stop me? of-course i snuck in some whole wheat for good measure and before you know it you've got breakfast for a week.

HONEY WHOLE WHEAT WALNUT CAKE

3/4c roasted and finely chopped walnuts

3/4c whole wheat flour

3/4c AP flour

1c honey

1c unsweetened applesauce

3 eggs

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

*preheat oven to 350F, grease and flour a 8 1/2" spring form pan

*sift together the dry ingredients

*in a separate bowl combine the honey and applesauce until smooth

*add the eggs one at a time

*add wet to the dry, mix to just combine

*pour into prepared pan and cook for 45 minutes or until toothpick is clean

*right when you take out of the oven drizzle 2-3tbs of honey on top, brush to evenly distribute