Episcopal Church near Jamestown
My son and I took a trip to Jamestown looking for the French Huguenot settlement. We passed through Jamestown and found
this little church in the woods.
I have not written in a while. I've missed hearing from you all so thought I'd better get a blog out so I could hear back from my friends. As most of you know, I've been busy writing for the national PBS Television Website, Garden Smart. If you haven't seen it, by all means go to http://www.gardensmart.tv/ and sign up for our monthly newsletter. There, you can also see the weekly column with recipes. Thank you in advance. If you have a good vegetable recipe that I can use, by all means send it and I will give you credit in the column. Same for a good restaurant that serves local. I'll put that in the "My Travels" column.
Needless to say, it has been a long and cold winter. Like most of you, we've had snow. About 2-3 inches here. One son had 3-inches at his home and the other had 6-inches at his. This was the first time the grandchildren had seen that much snow and they were elated. Photos came flying into me of snowmen and grandchildren from two counties! I was too cold to build one if you wonder where my snowman photo is. But, I was thrilled to see the snowmen that the children built. Maybe if I had made the Blackberry Cordial recipe below a little earlier, I may have been okay. But, alas, too late.
Today it was finally warm and sunny enough to take a walk through the woods to the river from grandmother's house. Nice, very nice!
Good news! My coconut cake recipe was featured in James Beard Notes in the Dec-Jan issue. I was thrilled, and especially happy when Allison Tozzi Liu of The James Beard Foundation wrote to tell me that the test kitchen staff loved the cake.
Also, I'll be appearing at the new South Carolina State Farmers Market in Lexington in July. Hopefully, Anne Moore, the editor of Garden Smart will be appearing with me. Anne, who is a Master Gardner, will talk about herbs and I will use the same herbs to cook with. If you can make it, please come. We'd love to see you there.
Thirdly, Anne and I are in the process of publishing a new cooking, gardening book. We'll use the articles and recipes that we've written for the Garden Smart Web page this past year.
I thought I'd give you some new and different recipes in this blog! One of them will surely help you stay warm just in case we have any more bad weather, and if not, it will surely help you stay cool, or not care if you are hot or cold. I love it.
Two great finds- Mary B's Butter Tasting Biscuits. These biscuits are better than home-made. I've looked every where for a good biscuit recipe and I have not found one, so I don't try any more. These are great. Tony Hess, the VP of Marketing, and a friend, tells me that Mary B's new cheese biscuits are on the market now. Check out their site www.homadefoods.com and see for yourself. Recipes are also available on the site. Another great food find is an Alabama favorite. Conecuh Sausage. Delicious. This is the best sausage I've ever had. If you'd like to know where to find it, just go to their site at www.Conecuhsausage.com.
Frances Tutt, a wonderful hostess and family friend made biscuits, then split, buttered and toasted them. She served the biscuits on a large platter just skirting the edge with a mound of Conecuh sausage in the center. It was all delicious. What a great breakfast dish to wake up to. Speaking of Frances, she is the mother of J. Wallace Tutt, the author of the hottest book in the South Beach area, Harbour Island.
Food again! The Charleston Food Festival is getting underway in a few days. If you get down this way please do call me, and secondly please do check out all the really good restaurants in the area. I'd like to tell you that I'll see you there, but like I told a friend, I grew up on the same food that many of the restaurants serve here, so I don't have the initiave to fight crowds to eat. I love the restaurants here,and I have a few favorites, so call or write if you'd like my list.
Right now I've got a lemon curd, buttermilk cake in the oven, and I've already made chicken divan for supper tonight (in the fridge). I just have to warm it up. So, I'll try not to take so long to let you know if it was good enough to put here.
In the meantime, I've got somthin southern and something southwest for you. We'll start with the somthin southern- Blackberry Cordial.
Bon Apetit my friends,
Linda
Blackberry Cordial
Cover the berries with cold water and let boil for a few minutes until
done. Then strain, and to every pint of juice add one pound of granulated sugar. Put back on the fire. Tie up a little cinnamon,allspice and cloves in a thin muslin bag, and let boil with the juice until the latter is a pretty thick syrup, then take off, and when it is thoroughly cold add one third as much good brandy or whiskey as you have syrup. It is not necessary to seal it. (I would keep refrigerated, mostly so it's out of sight.)Recipe from Echoes of Southern Kitchens
Get ready for a good appetizer and shrimp dish right behind it.
Baked Goat Cheese, Salsa & Avocado
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese
1 (4-ounce) log goat cheese
1 cup good salsa (drained if very watery)
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantroTortilla Chips warmed in the oven at a low temperature
1 ripe avocado, cut into 1/2-inch dice
Fresh lime juice to taste
Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, add the cheeses and thoroughly combine. Place the cheeses in the center of a pie plate (about a 5 inches disk). Spoon the salsa over and around the cheese. Bake until heated through, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and spoon the chopped avocado into a bowl and sprinkle with lime juice to taste. Mix well to distribute the lime juice. Place the diced avocado around the edge of the cheese mixture. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with warmed chips.
Marinated Shrimp & Avocado Sauce
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice*
Zest of 1 orange*
Olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro (or parsley if you don't care for cilantro.
Salt and pepper
Combine shrimp with cumin, chili powder, paprika, orange juice,orange zest, olive oil and cilantro. Thread shrimp onto skewers (that have been soaked in cold water for 30 minutes to keep them from burning).Place skewered shrimp on a boiler pan or grill. Broil for a few minutes on each side until shrimp are thoroughly cooked.
*Note- I think this recipe would be a good Shrimp & Grits recipe if you change the orange to lemon juice and lemon zest. And, change the cilantro to Italian parsley. Then serve on grits and omit the avocado sauce.
Avocado Sauce
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 ripe avocado
1/2 onion, finely chopped
Juice of 1/2 lime
Salt and pepper
Dice avocado and immediately combine with olive oil, cilantro, onion, and lime juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Photos from Bing.Com free site.
