Weekly Dish

The Aunts’ Recipe Book, a collection of Ellis family recipes I received when I got married, contains dozens of notecards with each of my Mississippi aunts’ handwriting on them. I love to look closely at each card to see what it tells me about its author. Aunt Cindi’s cards are big and bright; they have fun stickers in each corner and the cookbook from which the recipe came. Aunt Prissy’s tend to be very opinionated and a little on the bossy side, but very precise. Aunt Em’s recipes are written on the back of whatever she had handy at the moment; many of the ones in this book are scratched on the back of very old Christmas cards featuring her boys in matching sailor suits (they’re almost all teenagers now!) Aunt Jennifer’s recipes, for the most part, are simple and straightforward, occasionally adorned with a comment about what the recipe means to her and her family.

When I first started cooking, Aunt Jennifer’s recipe for White Chili was approachable, but not so easy that it didn’t feel like “real” cooking. I find her style to be like that: she believes that food doesn’t have to be fussy to be good, and that if more people learned to cook simple, satisfying meals, we’d have many more families sitting down to home-cooked meals, instead of to pizza or McDonald’s.

This chili is a little like a spiced-up chicken soup, heartier because of the beans, and edgier because of the red pepper and cumin. I love to make a pot of this soup on a dreary Saturday or Sunday afternoon and let it sit for a while. As with most chili recipes, the longer the flavors have to mingle, the better it tastes. I always stir in a few extra thoughts of Aunt Jennifer, for whom I was named, who always served my noodles on top of my spaghetti when I was a kid and never told my mom that I asked her to, and with whom I share a love of teaching and good books. As a matter of fact, this soup goes great with a good book for lunch, if you happen to have one on hand.

Aunt Jennifer’s White Chili

1 pound white navy beans (Aunt Jen says canned is ok, so I don’t argue. Just don’t tell Aunt Prissy. I don’t drain them, either)

2 pounds chicken breasts, or 2-3 cups of cooked chicken meat (I used the leftovers from our Thanksgiving roast chicken)

6 cups chicken broth or stock (I used a combination of canned and homemade)

1 T. olive oil

2 med. onions (I like the sweet yellow ones in this dish)

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 t. cumin

1 t. oregano (I used fresh because I have it in my backyard)

1/4 t. ground cloves

1/4 t. cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

If using uncooked chicken, cook it in water on the stove until all the meat turns white and comes apart easily with a fork. In a large pot, cook the onions and garlic in olive oil until very, very soft. Chop the chicken into small pieces; add everything else to the pot. Simmer for at least 30-45 minutes, preferably longer. Just be careful not to let it boil, or you’ll lose liquid. Serve with any or all of the following garnishes: salsa, sour cream, Monterey Jack cheese, tortillas, chopped oregano or cilantro.

P.S. I realize that I am not abiding by the days on the menu, but it’s been one of those weeks already. I promise to post the Chicken Pie and Risotto recipes later in the week!

I grew up in a house where medicine was practically non-existent. My mother believed in the power of orange juice to cure a sore throat, a Sprite-and-crackers diet to get rid of a stomach bug. Looking back, it seems as if food cured many ailments–if I had a bad day at school, we baked cookies. If I broke up with a boyfriend, I ate mint-chocolate chip ice cream for dinner…or breakfast. Often, when I was in college, my mom would drop off homemade muffins just to say she missed me. 

Perhaps in light of my upbringing, then, food for me has not only the power to sustain, but also to heal, to comfort, and to cheer me up. People in the South often talk of “comfort food,” and this time of year, when the outside world starts to appear lifeless and cold, I find myself standing over the stove to warm myself and my husband with the healing power of food.

This week, I offer recipes that I have turned to at one time or another for comfort, either for me or for a loved one, in hopes of spreading food’s magical, healing power. Of course, in order for these recipes to be effective, you must also sprinkle in a healthy dose of care and love. Believe me, people can taste it.

This first recipe belongs to my mom. Anyone that has ever been to her house in the winter knows about Mom’s Spiced Tea. For as long as I can remember, she kept this warm drink on hand during the cold months to offer to guests and to drink on dreary afternoons. When David and I were dating, it became a running joke: whenever he came to visit, she offered him spiced tea until he finally said yes (sometimes 4 or 5 times in the course of 1 visit!). He eventually learned just to accept on her first offer, for his drinking spiced tea was inevitable.

Since we’ve been married, I have followed her tradition of keeping this warm drink on hand. This very day, you’ll find a big pot of it on my stove, and late in the afternoon, David and I will probably take a break from our studies, and let ourselves be rejuvenated by Mom’s Spiced Tea.

Mom’s Spiced Tea

4 quarts water

2 cinnamon sticks

2 dozen whole cloves

3 family-size or 7 regular tea bags

3/4 - 1 cup sugar

1 46-ounce can pineapple juice

1 12-ounce can frozen orange juice

1 12-ounce can frozen lemonade

Fill a large stock pot with the water, and add the cinnamon sticks and cloves. Bring to a boil, and boil for 15 minutes. The aroma of this step alone is worth making the tea! Add the tea bags, turn off the heat, and steep, covered, for 15 minutes. Sweeten with the sugar (I usually end up adding closer to a whole cup, but I add 3/4 to begin with and then taste after I’ve added the other ingredients. You can always add more later), stirring to dissolve. Turn the heat to low, and add the juices, stirring to combine. At this point, you can taste it and adjust the sweetness. I leave it in the pot on my stove because our house is old and drafty, so it stays very cool. If you live in a well-insulated house, you may want to refrigerate it. To serve, just reheat and stir well (all the pulp settles to the bottom). It has been known to cure many a cold in my family, but that could be purely psychological. Which is fine by me.

One smart cookie came up with a brilliant idea: people who love food enough to write about it should send each other food. Real food. In the mail. Cathy of My Little Kitchen, host of this month’s Blogging By Mail, asked participants to send holiday-themed food and recipes.

My package, lovingly tucked into the box you see above by Heather in Kansas, contained the following fun items:

• monster cookies. These have so many decadent ingredients, how could they not be divine? Peanut butter, chocolate chips, M&M’s…you can find the recipe over at Heather’s blog. I am having to fight my husband for the last of these.

• two very cute dishtowels. Someone must have told Heather about the stained, ragged-edged cloths barely passing for dish towels hanging in my kitchen. The sunflowers (the Kansas state flower) are a particularly bright and welcome replacement!

• two weeks worth of the food section from her local newspaper in Topeka, which sadly (for its readers), is only one page. However, one page contains a recipe for Dog Breath Chili, so I’m not complaining.

• a picture of her spacious kitchen

• two very cute note cards and envelopes that look homemade–Heather, did you make them?

• a little orange candle that smells a lot like the next item…

• my favorite: pumpkin bread! Tucked in beneath the dish towels, I discovered a loaf of dense, spicy bread that is the perfect breakfast with coffee. Or mid-morning snack with tea. Or mid-afternoon snack. Or before-bed snack. I love it with a little pat of butter. Here it is:

Like me, Heather is in graduate school. She writes in her letter that she started blogging to find an outlet for her creativity, also like me. She has only been at it for a couple of months now, so head on over and check out Eating 4 One. Also head over to Cathy’s to check out the round up and see what other fun things people have been swapping in the mail.

Heather, thanks so much for sharing your holidays with me through this very fun package. As I sit here and sip my tea with pumpkin bread and my spicy candle burning, I am thinking very nice thoughts of you. Happy Holidays!

For the combination Sugar High Friday/Is My Blog Burning? Cookie Swap, I bring you a cookie recipe in keeping with the Week of the Sweet Potato. These Spicy Sweet Potato Cookies with Maple-Orange Glaze are very dense and moist on the inside, almost cake-like, and crispy on the outside. They are a combination of my favorite accoutrements for the sweet potato when it makes its appearance in a dessert dish: orange, maple syrup, and a plethora of spices. I made these for a certain package that should be arriving any day now–I hope they held up in the mail!

What I love about the dough is that it is very flexible; you can drop the cookies by spoonfuls to get a simple cookie-shape (the ones immediately above are an example), or you can roll out the dough and cut your own shapes (like the little snowflakes at the top). The glaze is a simple powdered sugar one, but the fresh orange juice makes it really delicious. Please, if you make these cookies, squeeze the juice right from an orange–it makes a big difference.

SPICY SWEET POTATO COOKIES WITH MAPLE-ORANGE GLAZE

For the cookies:

1 c. brown sugar

2 sticks butter

1 T. maple syrup

1 c. sweet potato, mashed

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/4 t. allspice

1/2 t. cinnamon

2 1/2 c. flour

1 t. grated orange rind (from one orange)

For the glaze:

1 c. powdered sugar plus more to thicken, if necessary

Juice of 1 orange

1 T. butter, softened

1 T. maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream the butter, sugar, and maple syrup until light and fluffy. Beat in the sweet potato. Mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl; add to the potato mixture with the mixer running on low. Mix until just combined. Roll the dough into a ball and either drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet, pressing them flat with the back of your spoon, or refrigerate the dough to roll out later. (It will be sticky, and if you are going to cut shapes from it, you’ll want it to be a little firmer.) Bake each batch of cookies for about 8-10 minutes, or until the outsides are nice and brown and they don’t give too much when you touch them. While they’re baking, mix up the glaze. I just use a fork to combine the ingredients, but if you want a super-smooth glaze, you might like to use your mixer. Beat together the butter and maple syrup. Add the powdered sugar, a little bit at a time, beating continuously, until you have a thick paste. Add the juice from the orange, stirring until the mixture is spreadable or pourable, depending on how you like your glaze. To thicken, just add powdered sugar. If you look at the pictures, I used thicker glaze for the round cookies (more sugar) and a thin, pourable one for the snowflakes. The thick glaze will retain its white color; if it’s thin, it will be translucent. When the cookies are finished baking, remove them from the oven to cool. Let them cool slightly before glazing, or the glaze will melt and run right off. I think these would also be good as sandwich cookies, with an orange cream cheese icing in the middle. I might try that next time. Until then, happy cookie swap!

Happy Thanksgiving, Everybody! Here’s a picture of the Thanksgiving chicken that David prepared for our own little holiday meal last night (there he is below getting it ready). Today, I am especially thankful to be married to such a sweet, talented husband. We’re off to visit family for the day, but we wish you and yours a safe and blessed holiday!

If you’re still looking for the perfect dessert to take to Thanksgiving dinner, I highly recommend this one. Especially if you have cooked sweet potatoes on hand, this pie is easy to make, and wow, is it good. This recipe belonged to my great-grandmother, and my mom has taken on the task of making it every Christmas. As soon as the weather turned cool, (and I began buying and cooking sweet potatoes like a mad woman) I craved this pie.

My affection for this particular recipe has much to do with my memory, I know; it’s been several years since my great-grandmother was here to share the holiday with us. But also, I think this pie does what all of my favorite recipes do: it relies on the simplicity of the ingredients. The sweet potato flavor is highlighted by the orange zest, and those are really the only flavors you taste. The evaporated milk or cream imparts a fluffiness to the potatoes that enhances their own texture. My mom serves it with a dollop of slightly sweetened cream and freshly grated nutmeg, and I like it warm or cold. Really, as far as pies go, this one for me is hard to beat.

NANNY’S SWEET POTATO PIE

Nanny is famous for writing down cryptic recipes. I’m going to type it up exactly as my mom recited it to me over the phone, and then I’ll explain what I actually did when I made the pie. Her instructions:

1-2 potatoes

1 can Carnation

2 eggs

Grated orange rind

Vanilla

Salt

3/4 cup sugar

Whip the potatoes, Carnation, and eggs; then add sugar. Add vanilla and salt. Bake 15 min. at 375, 30 minutes at 350.

What I did:

Bake a pie shell for 10 minutes at 425; remove from oven and reduce the temperature to 375 degrees. I used 2 small potatoes (about 2 cups of cooked, mashed potato) and 1 cup of whipping cream instead of Carnation (because I couldn’t figure out whether she meant sweetened condensed or evaporated milk. Mom says evaporated, but the cream worked fine too). Whip the potatoes, cream, and eggs together in the mixer. Then, add the sugar, the grated rind of 1 orange, 1/2 t. of vanilla, and 1/4 t. salt. Whip for a couple of minutes. The mixture should be very light and fluffy. Pour the filling into the slightly baked pie crust, and return to the oven. Bake for 15 minutes; then reduce the temperature to 350 and bake for 30 minutes more. The pie should be set so that it jiggles only slightly in the center when you shake it. (It will firm up as it cools, but I can never wait, so my pieces are always falling apart a little bit.)  Serve as you wish, hot or cold, with whipped cream and nutmeg, or just some grated orange rind on top, with coffee, tea, or a tall glass of milk. I’m telling you, you really can’t go wrong.

One of the reasons sweet potatoes are so useful for baking is because they can add moisture and creaminess to baked goods without adding significantly to the fat content. I love to make muffins, and this recipe is one of my favorites. The cake portion of the muffin is light, fluffy, and not too sweet, and the sugared nut topping adds just the right amount of sweetness and crunch. If you want a really decadent breakfast or teatime treat, they are really good spread with some maple butter (1/2 stick butter whipped with 1/4 cup maple syrup). I like them all by themselves too.

These muffins would be great to take with you if you’re traveling to stay overnight with family or friends. The basis for this recipe comes from Marie Simmons’ little book, Muffins from A to Z.

Sweet Potato Muffins

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup brown sugar + 2 T.

2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup cooked sweet potato, mashed (about 1 medium potato)

1/4 cup maple syrup + 1 T.

1 1/3 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup melted butter

2 eggs

1/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease your muffin tin and set aside. Mix the dry ingredients–flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt–in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Add the sweet potato, syrup, buttermilk, and butter, whisking until well combined. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones, mixing until just combined. Divide the batter between the muffin cups. For the topping, stir together 1/4 cup of chopped pecans, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the muffins. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the tops are brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Poor sweet potato. With so many nutrients and such a delectably sweet, creamy flavor and lovely orange color, what do we typically do to you? Whip you up with a lot of butter, sugar, and eggs, and bury you under a layer of marshmallows. What a way to treat one of nature’s sweetest vegetables.

I love sweet potatoes. Granted, I first learned to love them buried under marshmallows at family gatherings. Since I started cooking them on my own, though, I’ve tried to learn how to capture their goodness in more creative (and more health-friendly!) ways.

To begin, I’ll tell you how I cook sweet potatoes to have with dinner. Of all the ways I fix them, simply roasting them in the oven until the outside is crispy and the inside is super-creamy is my absolute favorite. I could eat mounds and mounds of these at a time. I usually cook several at one time because the cooked potato has so many different uses.

The first step is to buy good sweet potatoes. They are in season right now, and the local ones here have been fabulous. I like to buy the small or medium-sized ones (the ones in the photo above are a little bigger than I like); they cook faster and tend towards the creamy side. The really huge ones can sometimes be stringy. For dinner, I’ll roast about 4 medium-sized potatoes, cut into chunks, and then place 3 or 4 more on the cookie sheet whole, to cook at the same time and to use in other recipes.

Garlic-Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Scrub the potatoes you’re planning to cook and dry with a dishcloth. Cut about 4 of them into large chunks–I slice the potatoes into thick circular sections (about 4-5 per potato) and then quarter those sections. I also like to leave the skin on to retain the earthy flavor, but you can peel them if you like. Mince 1-2 cloves of garlic per potato. Spread the cut potatoes on the cookie sheets, making sure that each piece is lying flat on the sheet (no overlapping). Drizzle with olive oil and use your hands to turn them in the oil to coat. Sprinkle liberally with Kosher salt, cracked pepper, and the minced garlic pieces. I leave some extra space to bake a few whole potatoes for other recipes later in the week. Roast the potatoes for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring and turning the cut pieces about half-way through. Check the whole potatoes; they should pierce easily with a fork. The cut potatoes should be crispy and golden. Serve as a side for any meat dish, and reserve the leftovers for other uses (recipes to follow, I promise!)

This weekend our friends Jerrod and Jessie came to visit with their two-month-old baby, Ren. Since we moved away from Jackson, we have really missed not only all the meals we used to share with Jessie and Jerrod but also getting to see Ren on a regular basis. He’s grown so much since we saw him six weeks ago!

Usually on Sundays, David and I get up and go to the early service at church, and I fix a brunchy-type meal when we get home. That was our plan this morning too, but somehow, having a baby around tends to complicate even the best of intentions. We did have a big breakfast–scrambled eggs with pesto and parmesan, toast with Aunt Prissy’s homemade plum jelly, and sausage–just later than we’d planned and still in our pajamas. Here’s what we spent most of the weekend doing:

holding, touching, rocking, watching, listening to the baby! Breakfast was no exception: Ren sat beside the table in his swing, and cooed at us the whole time. The food was good–pesto is a great way to liven up scrambled eggs–but the best part of this Sunday breakfast was definitely the company. Can’t you guys just move down here?

A few weeks ago, David and I had lunch at Chelsea’s, one of my favorite restaurants in Baton Rouge. The atmosphere is very pub-like, but every time I’ve eaten there, the food has been excellent. On this particular Friday afternoon, I ordered the fried green tomatoes with grilled shrimp. The tomatoes were crisp and light and tangy, just like I like them, and they contrasted so nicely with the sweet, meaty shrimp, and creamy remoulade dressing. The dish was so good that I came home and started trying to figure out how to recreate it. Apparently, I got so excited that I forgot to write down what exactly I did! I will try to describe my process, as best I remember…

One of the vendors at the farmer’s market has had green tomatoes the past few weeks; I bought them on Saturday and let them sit in the kitchen window for a few days to soften just a little. A few hours before I planned to start cooking, I sliced the tomatoes, and laid them in a shallow dish of buttermilk. I salted and peppered them well and left them to soak.

When I returned, I mixed up a plate of flour, cornmeal, chopped fresh basil, and seasoning salt (I use equal parts flour and cornmeal). I heated some canola oil in a frying pan, dredged the soaked tomato slices in the flour mixture, and fried them in oil until they turned golden brown, being careful not to let the oil get too hot. They didn’t have to cook very long per side, maybe 3 or 4 minutes? I lay the tomatoes on paper towels to drain while I prepared the remoulade sauce.

Remoulade sauce is another one of those recipes that comes in many varieties. I’ve made it different ways; for this version, I used the leftover cocktail sauce, homemade mayonnaise, a few cloves of garlic, and some spicy cajun mustard, and blended it all up in the food processor. Instead of grilling the shrimp, I used the leftover boiled ones from dinner Monday, so once the sauce was made, my meal was ready to plate. I must confess that my tomatoes and shrimp were not as good as Chelsea’s. I think my sauce was a little too strong–maybe too much garlic–and their tomatoes were more flavorful. Next time, maybe I’ll get it right…and remember to write down my method!