My Southern Petits Biscuits de Fromage Pimiento

 

Petite Pimiento Cheese Biscuits!

 

These soft and tender little biscuits will have the flavor of those little tiny cheese crackers when you first taste them, but then you'll get the pimiento cheese bite. The biscuits would be so good stuffed with ham salad, or sliced ham and a little mayonnaise. It would be like having a pimiento cheese sandwich with ham on it. What could top that! Oh, I think I know, serve them with ham and eggs topped with salsa and sour cream. Hmmm, sounds like breakfast tomorrow morning to me.

 

1 cup self-rising flour (I use King Arthur)

2 tablespoons shortening

1/2 cup of your favorite pimiento cheese * see mine below the photos

1/3 cup plus more if needed, buttermilk- add 1 tablespoon at a time if extra is needed.

optional-add a tiny bit of cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. (I used a convection oven, so keep that in mind because cooking time may be slightly longer in a traditional oven). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

 

In a medium bowl add the flour and shortening and mix with a fork or your fingertips until shortening has been incorporated. Add the pimiento cheese, and mix into the flour-shortening mixture. Add the buttermilk, stirring with a fork until the ingredients are blended. If you see flour, add a very small amount of buttermilk to make a pliable dough.

 

On a floured surface, knead the dough a few times until smooth. Roll out dough to 1/2- inch thickness, and cut with a one-inch biscuit cutter. Place the biscuits on parchment paper. Bake for approximately 8 minutes or until lightly brown on top. Makes 17 petite biscuits. The flavor develops even more when the biscuits have been baked for a while.

 

 

Dough as it should look.

Dough ready to knead and roll.



Dough rolled to 1/2-inch thickness, cut with a 1-inch biscuit cutter.

 

On parchment paper, ready to bake.

 

Beautifully baked, but not overcooked.

I make the same pimiento cheese that my mother made. I change the cheese every once in a while, but I use only cheese, chopped pimientos and Duke's Mayonnaise. If you make pimiento cheese with cream cheese, that would be good in the biscuits as well.

Grate 8-ounces of sharp cheddar cheese (I used Cracker Barrel for this recipe)
1 (4-ounce) jar of diced pimiento cheese
Enough mayonnaise to moisten well
optional-dash of cayenne pepper

Mix all together. Use 1/2 cup for biscuit recipe, and save the rest for sandwiches or to stuff celery. Keep refrigerated.

 

 

 



A Southern Supper of Trout, with Butter-Lime-Caper Sauce, Sweet Potato Wedges, Coleslaw and Hushpuppies!



Trout with butter-lime-caper sauce, cinnamon dusted sweet potato wedges, coleslaw, hushpuppies

This supper is on the heels of going through the week of Christmas thinking that I am just tired of the same old food! We'd just had a similar menu for Thanksgiving and the thought of cooking that tired menu, although I do love traditional foods during the holidays, just gave me fits. So, I started to make menu changes then, and to our traditional foods like ham, dressing and gravy, pear and cheese salad, I added Country Captain over white rice, butterbeans, roasted asparagus with Parmesan and Romano cheese and corn fritters with red pepper jelly.  If you would like to see the menu and recipes for Christmas Day, just check out this site; www.southernsundaydinner.com. We are still talking about how much we enjoyed the old and the new.

Now, here I am in the next week trying to think of something different for supper. What will it be? I really enjoy a good fish dinner, or should I say that I enjoy a dinner with good fish. So, it was time that I bought some fresh fish. The store had pretty trout, and I could lightly dust it with flour and fry it in butter. Finishing the fish would be easy, all I have to do is add more butter, a couple of tablespoons of capers and a splash of lime juice. The ideas started to fly though my head. Coleslaw would be good with that too, so would home-made hushpuppies, which I have not made in a long time. Oh, and I already have sweet potatoes in the pantry.

Oh yummy, I said, a plan. The lime juice from the sauce on the trout would be a good complement to the cinnamon dusted sweet potatoes. And, the hushpuppies would be a  nice complement to the coleslaw. And, it was! I made it all, and it was a good supper all the way around. Would you like the recipes?


Hushpuppies!

The Trout

2 servings

 

2 trout filets

1/2 cup flour with salt and pepper

2 tablespoons butter

 

 

Mix flour with salt and pepper. Lightly dust the trout.

Add butter to a skillet large enough to hold both pieces of trout.

Heat the butter until sizzling. Add the trout, skin side down and making sure the thickest part of the fish is toward the center of the skillet. Cook for 2 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp. Turn to the other side, again, making sure that the thickest part of the filet is toward the center of the skillet, and finish cooking. Time for cooking depends on size and thickness of the fish. You should be able to touch the fish and feel the firmness. Remove the fish to a plate and keep warm.

 

Sauce

 

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons capers

2 tablespoons lime juice

 

Add the butter to the skillet set on medium high. Add the capers. The butter will start to brown. Add the lime juice and let the sauce thicken. Divide the sauce between the two servings of fish.

 

Sweet Potato Wedges

 

 

2 sweet potatoes

cinnamon

 

Cover a baking sheet with foil and place the sweet potatoes on the sheet. Bake sweet potatoes in a 350 degree oven until almost done. Remove from the oven, and slice the potatoes into wedges. Remove skin. Spray baking sheet with non-stick spray. Place potato wedges back on the baking sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon. Put back in the oven to finish baking until tender.

 

 

Coleslaw

 

There really is not a recipe for this, but I make it like my mother made it. I use a bag of angel hair coleslaw mix which has 6-7 cups finely grated cabbage. About 3/4 cup chopped bread and butter pickles, plus a couple tablespoons pickle juice, a teaspoon sugar, and enough mayonnaise to make it creamy. Mix it all together and chill until ready to serve.

 

 

 

Hushpuppies, Hush!

 

 

1 cup self-rising corn meal mix (I use Martha White Hot Rize, white cornmeal)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 egg, beaten

3 green onions, including the stems, thinly sliced (you could also use chopped jalapenos)

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk*

 

Mix all together. Batter will be thick, but if you can see dry cornmeal, add more buttermilk, a little at a time.

Prepare a small, deep heavy saucepan for frying the hushpuppies by adding about 2-3 inches of oil, and place over medium or medium high heat. When the oil starts to move, scoop out hushpuppy batter a tablespoon at a time and add to the hot oil. A one tablespoon ice cream scoop works great for this. Your saucepan should be deep, but large enough to hold 3-4 hushpuppies at a time. Brown hushpuppies on each side, and remove to paper towels to drain. Serve hot. Makes 13 hushpuppies. These are great with a little red pepper jelly on the side.*You want a thick batter, so add the extra two tablespoons sparingly. It would be better to add one at a time as needed.

 



 

 

 

MAMA IRENE'S MINCEMEAT FRUITCAKE

 

 

 

From the time that I was a little girl, at Christmas, I would walk down the long hallway and by the dark dining room table filled with cakes and pies, to get to my grandmother's kitchen. There, in that old farm kitchen were produced some of the best Lane Cakes, fruitcakes, and pecan pies in the South.

 



My grandmother, Lillian Irene Murray Rogers, in front of her home.



 

Mama Irene's desserts were the epitome of what traditions were made of, and she was the perfect grandmother. Very much a lady, very much involved in her church, Eastern Star and her community, and very loved. So every chance I get, I like to honor her.

 

This fruitcake, along with a white fruitcake that my mother made, are two of my favorite fruitcakes during Christmas. Now, I must admit to you that this is not a moist fruitcake, but it's great for dipping in tea, and it has a crust that is absolutely fabulous to eat! This cake has the perfect amount of spice from the mincemeat. Divine, is what I should say about this cake. Then again, that's how I feel about it, because I'm not just eating cake, I'm eating a memory.

 

Mama Irene's Mincemeat Fruitcake

 

 

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (1-pound) jar mincemeat

1 cup raisins

1 cup chopped pecans (I toast whole pecans in the microwave for about a minute and then chop them before adding to the mixture)

1 cup sugar

1 stick butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla (or Grand Marnier)

2 eggs, slightly beaten

 

Add the first 4 ingredients to a sifter and sift into a small bowl. Set aside. To a large bowl, add the mincemeat, raisins, pecans, sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs. Fold in the flour mixture. Line the bottom of a tube pan with parchment. or waxed paper. Grease the pan. Pour in the fruitcake mixture, evening off the top. Bake in a low, 325 degree oven for 1 to 1 1/2hours, depending on pan size, or convection oven (my cakes take about an hour). When the cake is done, let it rest for 10 minutes and then remove it from the pan. I use an instant read thermometer and my cake was done at about 192 degrees.

 

I put an icing of confectioners sugar, butter and orange juice on each slice. You can also make a hard sauce that would be perfect with this cake. If using the icing, use 2 cups sifted confectioners sugar, mixed with a half stick of very soft butter, and enough orange juice or Grand Marnier to make it spreadable.

 

                                                           Merry Christmas!



 



GET OUT THE LADLE & THE BOWL FOR BEEF-VEGETABLE SOUPER FLAVORFUL SOUP

Beef-Vegetable Soup

 

(For Sarah's Vegetable Soup, go to post for October 15, 2015 and find it there.)

 

This is a little different than Sarah's Beef Vegetable Soup because this soup is a little lighter and creamier, and uses vegetables that have the seasoning in the package.

 

It's a wonderful soup, so get out those soup bowls and enjoy this with a salad, and some fresh bread. You can start the soup 30 to 40  minutes before you are ready to eat, so it's great for a quick lunch.

 

 

The recipe:

 

8 ounces of ground sirloin, lean ground beef or chopped, leftover steak (if using leftover steak, make sure you add the bone)
1/4 cup diced onion
32 ounces beef broth
2 teaspoons beef base (for extra flavor)
1 (14.5 ounce) can petite tomatoes
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
8 ounces (1/2 package)Trader Joe's Vegetable Melange with seasoned butter sauce
1 1/2-2 cups green peas
1 (15.25 ounce) can cream style corn

Cook ground beef and onion until beef is cooked through. (If using cooked steak, add all ingredients except corn, with the steak). Add beef broth, beef base, tomatoes, and vegetables. Cook on medium heat until all vegetables are tender. Add creamed corn and simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve.



Savory Sun-dried Tomato Focaccia Bread Pudding with Tomato Cream Sauce

Savory Bread Pudding

Stale Focaccia? Make a Savory Pudding

I went to a local market to buy the fresh daily bread, which was a Rosemary French bread. While I was there, I picked up a sun-dried tomato focaccia. Oh gracious, it sure  looked good, but disappointment would set in soon after cutting two slices for tasting. It was stale!


An Italian cook, I am not, but also Not wanting to throw this beautiful bread away, I decided to make a savory bread pudding.  It was so good. The inside was nice and moist and the top was golden and crispy. But, it needed something. A tomato sauce with cream was the ticket, and as easy as opening a can of tomatoes. Here's hoping you enjoy this savory bread anew, as much as I did. The recipe is below.

 I cut the bread into small wedges, and fitted the wedges into an 8 1/2 x 12 x 2 inch oval dish.

I poured half the custard in, and then put half the cheese over the custard. Now, pour the remaining custard in and top with the other half of the cheese.

Sun-dried Tomato Focaccia Bread Pudding with Tomato Cream Sauce

1 sun-dried tomato focaccia

3 eggs

2 cups milk

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon Herbes of Provence

1 cup Romano cheese, divided

In a bowl, beat the eggs, mix in the remaining ingredients except the cheese.

Arrange the bread wedges (shown above) in a baking dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Pour in half of the egg mixture. Sprinkle half of the cheese down between the bread wedges. Pour the remaining egg mixture over the bread. Then add the remaining  cheese on top of the bread. The egg mixture will not come all the way up. Cover with plastic wrap. Take your hand and press the bread down softly. This will help the bread absorb some of the liquid. Refrigerate for 4 hours or more.

When ready to bake, cover with foil. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes covered, then continue baking until the custard has set, but it is still creamy in the bread (see photo below). (The baking time will vary depending on the oven and the baking dish. I use convection. So, you may want to check this after 25 minutes or even before, to see if the custard has set.) Serve with Tomato Cream Sauce.





The inside is creamy and the outside is crispy.

Serve with Tomato Cream Sauce.

Tomato Cream Sauce

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano

dash of garlic salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

Puree the tomatoes and add to a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Add the garlic salt, sugar, heavy cream and simmer for 5 minutes to meld flavors. Taste for seasoning, and add salt, pepper and additional sugar, to taste. Serve over the bread pudding.