Kentucky Butter Cake

This recipe came from my dear friend,Sheila Winslow. She is one of the best cooks I know!

“This cake is great for strawberry shortcake. You can add fresh lemon juice for a lemon cake or you can frost with chocolate or vanilla frosting; my family likes it plain. It has such a wonderful flavor and is so moist. I hope y’all enjoy this cake as much as we do. This is my family’s favorite pound cake.”  Sheila Winslow

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup butter (2 sticks) room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 large eggs – room temperature
½ teaspoon baking soda
NOTE: You can half the sauce or if making 2 cakes, 1 sauce recipe will cover both cakes.

Grease and flour 10” tube cake pan or 12 cup bundt pan.
In large bowl combine cake ingredients.
Beat on low speed with mixer until moistened.
Beat 3 minutes at medium speed.
Pour into prepared pan (batter will be thick like pound cakes should be).
Bake 60 to 70 minutes (my oven takes 65 minutes) or until toothpick comes out clean at 325 degrees.
Take out of oven and place on a cooling rack.  Leave cake in pan.
Poke holes in cake with a fork. Make and pour sauce over warm cake.

Sauce:
¾ cup sugar
1/3 cup butter (5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon)
3 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla
Place all ingredient in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Do not boil. Pour over cake. Let cool in pan for about 1 hour before removing

Corn Flake Stuff – a tasty little snack

This is one of those quick, messy, and sinful snacks you can make on a rainy night. 

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup Karo syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 cups corn flakes, plain

Heat first 3 ingredients in a sauce pan on low heat, until melted. Add corn flakes and stir well. Pour onto a large plate or platter. Eat immediately.

Buttermilk Pie – flies in the buttermilk, shoo – fly – shoo

Every time I make this pie I think of one of my favorite movies Meet Me In St. Louis with Judy Garland.

When farms used to churn their own butter every two or three days, there was a lot of buttermilk left over, and they made pies with the buttermilk.  This is a super easy pie to make – so few ingredients. 

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup butter

3 tablespoons flour, heaping

3 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

dash nutmeg

1 9-inch pie crust, unbaked

Cream sugar and butter, add flour and mix well.  Add the eggs one at a time until well blended.  Mix in buttermilk, vanilla and nutmeg.  Pour into a pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for 45 – 60 minutes or until browned and set.  It can’t get much easier than that!

Bloody Mary – Homemade – just plain delicious!

It’s hard to beat the spicy bite of a good bloody mary on warm summer mornings.  My husband loves bloody marys and he likes his SPICY.  A proper bloody mary is garnished with a celery stalk; a skewer of olives, pickles, carrots, mushrooms, or other vegetables; or even meat or fish (salami, shrimp, etc.) and cheese. Occasionally, pickled asparagus spears, beans or okra and perhaps celery salt around the rim. There is no denying that this is the classic cure for a hangover!

For those of you who like to make your Blood Marys from scratch, this recipe is from the New York School of Bartending. 

1 oz. to 1 1/2 oz.vodka in a Highball glass filled with ice.
Fill glass with tomato juice
1 dash celery salt
1 dash ground black pepper
1 dash Tabasco
2-4 dashes of Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp. horseradish (pure, never creamed)
Dash of lemon or lime juice
Garnish

May be shaken vigorously or stirred lazily, as desired.

Stuffed Mirliton

What the heck is a Mirliton?  In New Orleans, they are called mella-ton.  Mirlitons, also known as chayotes, are commonplace in New Orleans and have a texture similar to acorn squash.  It is a pear shaped fruit and a taste similar to zucchini.  This recipe brings back many fond memories. 

4 or 5 medium size Mirlitons

1 medium onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped fine

2/3 cup green onions, chopped

1/4 cup green peppers, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup parsley, chopped

3/4 cup butter or bacon drippings (may only use 1/2 cup)

3/4 lb. shrimp (raw) or crawfish tails

1 lb. ham, andouille sausage, ground pork or beef  (or use 1/2 lb. and 1/2 lb.)

3/4 cup bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon salt – may not need this if you use a salty Cajun seasoning

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon Cavendar’s Greek seasoning

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper or Cajun seasoning

2 dashes Tabasco sauce

1 egg, beaten, optional

Cover mirlitons with water and boil until tender, about 1 hour.  Cool and cut in half lengthwise.  Scoop out tender pulp and reserve.  Discard seeds and set shells aside for stuffing. 

Saute onions, green onions, green peppers, celery, garlic, and parsley in 1/2 cup butter or bacon drippings for 5 minutes or until onions are transparent.  Add shrimp and meat (your choice) and cook, stirring for another 5 minutes.

Add mirliton pulp, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, salt, pepper, Greek seasoning, Cajun seasoning or Cayenne pepper, and Tabasco sauce and cook, stirring for 10 minutes.  At this point, if your mixture is too dry you may add 1/4 of the remaining butter or bacon drippings – mix thoroughly.  Add egg (optional) and return to fire for 1 more minute.  (I think the egg is a good binder, but not required.)

Fill hollowed out mirlitons and top with remaining bread crumbs.

Bake 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until bread crumbs have browned. 

Can be prepared ahead of time.  Stuffed mirliton can be frozen for a short time (6 months). Prepare everything to the point of putting the bread crumbs on (leave them off). Wrap each mirliton tightly in plastic wrap and put them in a Zip-Lock, don’t forget to put the date on it. You can also make a mirliton casserole by peeling the mirlitons with a potato peeler, slicing in half, removing the seed and using this same recipe.

Fresh Peach Bellinis – My favorite!

It’s peach season and what do you do with all those juicy, ripe peaches? 

Nothing is quite as refreshing and thirst quenching in the summer as a Bellini. Created in Venice, Italy at Harry’s Bar, a place frequented by Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles, the Bellini is perfect for the summer months when peaches are in season. Peaches paired with Prosecco make this summer cocktail an easy one for entertaining.  Use sparkling juice or seltzer for a non-alcoholic cocktail.

2 ripe peaches, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 bottle chilled Prosecco sparkling wine or Champagne

Puree:  Place the peaches, lemon juice, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Press the mixture through a sieve and discard the peach solids in the sieve.

Place 2 tablespoons of the peach puree into each Champagne glass and fill with cold Prosecco or Champagne. Serve immediately.  Garnish with a peach slice and mint sprig.

Prosecco:  dry, lemony, and bubbling – Italy’s answer to refreshing, well-made, sparking wine.

Louisiana Jambalaya

To me, Jambalaya is a personal preference kind of dish – everyone has their own version.  Rule of thumb:  usually your liquid and your rice are of equal amounts. Some people use converted rice – I don’t.  Also, some like a more brown jambalaya and some like theirs more red with tomato sauce/puree.  Regardless of whether you put tomato sauce/puree in yours or not, this is an easy, tasty, comfort dish that originated in Louisiana.  Play around with your ingredients – i.e. shrimp, oysters, crabs, fish, chicken, ham, sausage, or just vegetables.  You can’t make a mistake.  Historically, Jambalaya is the French/Cajun version of Paella, a Spanish dish.

This recipe serves about 10.

1/2 cup butter

3 cups finely chopped onions

2 cups finely chopped celery

1-1/2 cups finely chopped green peppers

1-1/2 cups chopped tasso  (you can use regular smoked ham if tasso is not available)

1-1/2 cups chopped andouille smoked sausage (you can use Kielbasa if andouille is not available)

36 large shrimp, uncooked, deveined and shelled

1 cup boneless chicken, raw, diced

8 medium-size tomatoes, chopped

1 cup tomato sauce or puree  (optional – will make your sauce more red)

4 bay leaves

1 tablespoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon Cavender’s seasoning

1 tablespoon Cajun Seasoning  (Konrico is my favorite-it seems to have less salt.)

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1-1/2 teaspoons Tabasco

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2-1/2 cups uncooked rice

2 cups hot chicken or fish stock and 1 or 2 cups of hot water  (if you eliminate the 1 cup tomato sauce/puree, use 2 cups water)

In a large dutch oven or cast iron pot, melt butter over medium heat.   Add 1-1/2 cups onions, 1 cup celery and 3/4 cup bell peppers. Cook about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Browning your onions at this step will make your sauce richer.

Add the tasso, andouille, chicken, and remaining 1-1/2 cups onions, 1 cup celery and 3/4 cup bell peppers.  Cook 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce/puree (optional), bay leaves, oregano, thyme, Greek seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, Cajun seasoning, garlic and Tabasco. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Turn heat to high, fold in uncooked rice.

Add hot chicken or fish stock and hot water, bring to boil, cover pot and remove from heat. Let stand, covered, 15 minutes.

Return saucepan to medium heat, add shrimp and cook covered for 4 minutes.

Remove from heat and let stand, covered, until rice is tender, about 10 minutes.

Remove bay leaves and serve immediately.  Can also sprinkle each bowl with chopped green onions.

This is an excellent jambalaya pot for large batches.  My dad made ours at the steel foundry where he worked.  We call it the POA pot.  My dad put his initials on the pot – Pleasant O’Neal Adley.  We still use this pot today.

Louisiana Crawfish Cakes

I first had these crawfish cakes at Old Waverly Country Club in West Point, Mississippi.  People would come for all around for these crawfish cakes.  They are delicious.

 30 cakes, 2oz each

 4 lb crawfish tail meat

2 red and green peppers, diced very small

1 onion, diced small

8 oz Dijon mustard

4 oz white wine  –  The wine makes the difference.  Trust me!

2 oz Worcestershire sauce

4 oz hot pepper sauce – Tabasco

8 eggs

Breadcrumbs as needed

Combine all ingredients and form into 2oz size patties.  If you want to make larger one, you can have crawfish cake sandwiches.

Bread each cake in flour, eggs, and bread crumbs.  Deep fry 350 degrees.  

You can dip them in remoulade sauce, coctail sauce, or a good horseradish sauce.

Eggs in A Basket – A breakfast treat!

Mark’s dad used to make Eggs in A Basket for the kids when they were young.  This is an easy way for your grandchildren to eat eggs and a good thing for beginner cooks to make. 

1 slice of bread – you can experiment with different kinds of bread: white, whole wheat, sour dough, texas toast, etc.

1 egg

Butter for the bread and pan

Salt, pepper, nutmeg (optional)

Butter your bread on both sides.  Using a small juice glass or biscuit cutter, cut a circle out of the center of your bread. Heat your pan with a small amount of butter and place your buttered and cut bread in the pan.  Break an egg into the center.  Season with salt, fresh ground black pepper, and a touch of grated nutmeg (optional).  You could even add a little grated cheddar cheese. You decide if you want the yellow to be cooked or not.  Once the white part begins to cook, flip and cook the other side.

Homemade Biscuits – Like Magic!

There’s nothing that says home and LOVE like a hot homemade biscuit.  I like mine with apple wood smoked bacon and a little honey. 

I have made a lot of biscuits and this recipe is consistently delicious and very easy to make. During the holidays I share baskets of hot biscuits with my neighbors and they are usually waiting at the door when I arrive.

 1 stick butter

8 oz. sour cream

1 can 7-up or Sprite

4 c Pioneer Buttermilk Baking Mix

 Melt a stick of butter in sheet pan.  Mix other ingredients together in large bowl, but do not mix too much – just until wet.  Pour dough out onto a lightly dusted surface – dust the top of the biscuit dough with baking mix to make the dough more manageable .  Fold over the biscuit dough a few times till it becomes less wet, but you don’t need to knead this dough.  Cut with biscuit cutter (2”) or small juice glass dipped in flour. 

Put cut biscuits on sheet pan – close together – putting some of the melted butter on top of each biscuit. 

Bake at 425 degrees until golden brown.  Best biscuits ever!