Two Party-time Recipes For Your Mouth

I love throwing a good party. The most important “part” of the “party” equation is tasty snacks. You know they talk about you otherwise, right? Yes, well, they do. 

The first recipe became a standard just a couple of years ago. My husband is a book editor for The University Press of Mississippi and we went to a Book Friends party launching You Are Where You Eat: Stories and Recipes from the Neighborhoods of New Orleans by Elsa Hahne. This is a lovely book combining heartfelt stories, history, photographs and recipes from several New Orleans neighborhoods.

So imagine our joy when we arrived to find the hostesses serving a slew of the recipes from the book!  (FAB idea by the way for all you future/current cookbookers.)

We had Alligator Shooters (it was really just made from avocado), Sour Cream and Onion Pie, Mother-in-Law Meatballs, desserts and more. One menu item really stuck out to me, though, and that was the Pecan Tapas. Part of the attraction was the name and the other part was the sweet and spicy flavor coating the roasted pecans. They will be a favorite at your house, too, if you allow them space in your little heart.


This is, of course, meant as a teaser because you really do need this cookbook in your collection. You can buy it through the Press or at Amazon. Trust me.

Pecan Tapas is a fun recipe to play with because you can add spices to suit your palate, experiment with flavored honeys and/or syrups or choose a different kind of nut altogether.


*Please note I don't have accompanying photos with my recipes (shameful, I know- but I will make more soon and post them)


Pecan Tapas

1 lb. pecan halves (or nuts of your choosing)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of cayenne (red) pepper

1 teaspoon of black pepper

1 teaspoon oregano or thyme (or both)
1/3 cup of honey or honey/syrup combination

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat, add spices and then honey. (Turn the eye on AFTER you have added your spices to the oil. Don’t add the red and black pepper spice mixture to the hot oil. It will run you – and your significant other – out of the kitchen coughing and hacking!! Not that I would know from personal experience but a friend of mine told me that it happened to her……..)



Stir and simmer over low heat for a few minutes. You are trying to get rid of some of the water in the honey but not cook it so much that it will clump instead of coat the pecans. (If you choose to use syrup, it doesn’t need to cook as long. That same friend of mine ran into this problem when she used Delta Cane syrup.)


Fold pecans into mixture, coating well. Transfer pecans to oiled cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes until darker, reddish brown. Take out and leave them on stovetop or heat-safe surface while they cool.

 Stir pecans periodically until they cool, or they will cling to each other and the cookie sheet. (Sometimes, that’s not always a bad thing in this case because you can break them apart later)

For those of us who live in humid locales, don’t despair if your Pecan Tapas is a little sticky or slick to the touch once you set them out at your party. That’s what happened to me – I mean – my friend on our unseasonably warm New Years Eve.

These are a great and healthy go-to snack in the party off-season, too!


As in every situation, there must be a balance. Good outweighs the bad, pecans going head to head with Hot Cheese Puffs. Oh yes, we have a winner.


This recipe came to me from a bridal shower eons ago and it’s only just now that I took the plunge. Let’s just say, it was a hit. Nary a cheese puff left at the end of the night. That’s when you know you’ve hit the nail on the head. I would label this one…a party saver. If you have a faltering shindig, bring these out for an immediate shot in the arm result.

When I looked at the recipe, it seemed a little complicated – I used a make-shift double boiler and I was wary about the end result. Oh, me of little faith!


This is a recipe I promised to post for The Runaway Spoon. So here goes!


Again, this is another recipe you can play with for varied taste results. In my case, I used sharp cheddar and not Monterey Jack, and also added red pepper to it for a little zing. Internally, I balked at the use of cream cheese but it wasn’t as overwhelming as I imaged – it just heightened the cheese intensity.  By the end of the night, these were gone!

Hot Cheese Puffs


(Makes 5 – 6 dozen puffs)


1 Loaf of French bread (you won’t use all of it)
8 oz. of Monterey Jack Cheese
½ cup of butter
3 oz. of Cream Cheese
2 egg whites, room temperature

Cube bread into 1-inch cubes. Melt cheese, butter, and cream cheese in double boiler (in my case I used a metal bowl over water boiling in a saucepan. Worked like a charm).

Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into cheese mixture. Dip bread cubes into cheese mixture and place on cookie sheets.


At this point you can either:


1. Freeze them. Place in plastic bags and store up to 3 months.


Or


2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.


Let me know how it turns out and if you tinker with the recipes, what you did! Have fun wowing the crowds!


p.s. *My “To be Continued: Cleveland” post will be here before you know it. *

p.p.s. Can you believe I was asked this week to be involved in another chicken cook-off after my last experience?! haha Guess how long it took me to say, "I will NOT eat any chicken!!"

Calling All Bookworms!

Doing a google search, I ran across Homegirl Quel in Austin's blog - it's a fashion and life blog, so, if that's your thing then by all means click the link.  Otherwise, keep reading (or not)!

A post from May 2010 is called  "Wear a book.  Look Awesome! Do Good."  

She says, "Out of Print is an awesome little company on a mission. Buy one of their comfy tee shirts featuring your favorite book cover from their collection and a book will be donated to a community in need through their partnership with Books For Africa. How cool is that?!"

I saw some Southern author t-shirts there so I thought, why not share it with you?

F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tales of the Jazz Age.  Since I'm an old art deco-phile, it immediately sucked me in!  He's got Alabama connections, of course. Zelda was from Montgomery.

Here's "A Streetcar Named Desire" (Tennessee Williams):

For Harper Lee fans:

Not Southern, but just plain cool.

For Jane Austen fans

It'd be great if they had some Faulkner, Welty or Wright, although the selection they have is a lot of fun regardless.

More on the Cleveland trip to come................

I Never Did Tell You

Nope, I never did tell you about my visit to Cleveland at the first of December. 

We caught wind that a group of European journalists were going to be in the area on a media familiarization tour.  They arrive here and are promptly whisked through various points around the South including Mississippi, Tennessee and if I'm not mistaken (but I could be) Alabama to write various articles and to get a taste of what the region is like.  So my colleague and I made tracks into the Delta to meet up with the group, film a few things and take some photographs.

Our trip took us to Dockery Plantation, the fabled location where historians say the Blues began (with Charley Patton), a place that we visited last year (wow - has it been that long??) and where the group was going to have an authentic Southern dinner in the refurbished gas station that sits in front of those old buildings above, off of Highway 8.

A lot has happened over the past year.  The Dockery family established the Dockery Farms Foundation to help renovate and preserve the plantation.  Bill Lester is a family friend, next door neighbor, local historian and all-around good guy. He is Executive Director of the Foundation, told us stories, filled us in on the history and then pulled out a coin from his wallet.  I got an up-close look at the Dockery Farms currency that used to be good in Cleveland, Ruleville and Merigold (if I'm not mistaken).

With grant money the Foundation was able to renovate the gas station, which will be turned into a multi-use building for visitors.  They still had the old Coca Cola signs (there was an RC Cola mirror in the bathroom) and were able to put everything back just like it was.  It always warms my little heart when families don't throw things like that out - just like the old cash register and scales above and the old butcher block nearby.

Here are a few other things still sitting around:

  

You can imagine my excitement when we showed up and I saw someone unloading dinner.  It wasn't just anybody:  it was Chef David Crews. I'd read about him before while researching the Culinary Trail because he got his start at the restaurant Crawdad's, in Merigold - most widely known as the location for McCarty's Pottery and The Gallery Restaurant.  David now serves as Chef Instructor at Mississippi Delta Community College in the Culinary Arts Program as well as working at Stafford's on Main in Drew. (Drew is known as "duck hunting central").

The man is a culinary mastermind - just trust what my stomach is saying, ok? 

Please take note his menu for the evening:

He has a post on his blog about the evening as well.  It was quite the spread and an absolutely, hands down, terrific dinner.

I have to tell you about this.  David let me try a little bit as he was setting up - he would have to explain it to you himself (because my description won't do it justice). Look at the circular white dish right in front of the napkins with a knife sticking out of it.  That would be because he and I dug into it.  For good reason.  Think of it as something akin to duck paté.   Except it isn't duck - it's pork.  More specifically it is "pork shoulder rillettes."  A mixture of the deepest, smokiest pork reduction spread over crackers that will ever hit your mouth - sounds a little reckless, doesn't it?  I swear, it's a wonder I stopped myself from smuggling the dish home.  It was unlike anything I have ever tasted which translated into the unbelievable.  A bite was good on its own or just as fine when topped with the pickled green tomato chow chow.  It is the epitome of hog heaven. (sorry for the pun but it's the truth)

*Update on the rillettes*: I asked David to explain a little of the process of how he made the spread and this is what he shared with me:

"The Rillettes is an "old School" way of preserving meat.  Typically it is pork shoulder or belly that has been cured in salt then slow cooked in pork fat until tender, it is the pork equivalent to Duck Confit.  The one thing that I do different is that I dry cure mine in both salt and ground dried peppers, then as opposed to cooking it in the oven, I render it in a smoker that is burning sweet pecan wood...then let cool to room temp before going in farther. I think that this step not only gives it that "southern" smokey flavor it also give the meat time to release it's water and began to absorb some of the pork fat.  Also this step will add some time to it's shelf life because smoke has an antimicrobial effect on the surface of the meat.. Then remove the meat from the fat and grind to a paste. Finish by adding paste to a mason jar and cover with warm pork fat as a "lid". I cover mine with an actual lid but saran wrap will work, then refrigerate (for optimal storage) or leave on the counter covered..." 

There you have it folks. The answer to a question of pure divinity. Thanks, David!

A view from the other side:

Because you can never have too many action shots of the Southern Pecan Braised St Louis Style Ribs, Southern Slaw, Southern Pecan BBQ Sauce:

Leaning in for the close up.

And, we score!!

A lovely view of the chicken leg quarters, or rather Fig and Muscadine Compote glazed Slow Roasted Poussin with the Delta grind grits.

You didn't think I'd leave you hanging without a close-up of the grits soaking in thyme-infused poussin stock?!  

 

My personal favorite was the pork belly tamales, smothered in caramelized onions and drizzled with Tabasco Comeback Sauce.  I unabashedly went back for seconds on that. 

Below is the fresh greens with cherry tomatoes, avocado, Lauren Farms freshwater prawns (there's nothing like them), fresh cilantro and as you can see below, he tossed the salad in freshly squeezed lime juice and (the pièce de résistance) Tequila.  This garnered major applause as Chef Crews described it to the hungry crowd gathering impatiently around.

For dessert, we had banana pudding cheesecake.  I must figure out a way to make this at home.  I shared a piece with my coworker, Mary Straton and I am not ashamed to say, I distracted her while I ate a major portion of it.

You thought we were done with dessert?!  The night isn't over yet!