Grittier than Scarlett...

When I thought of Southern food, my brain immediately went to grits.  I had never tried grits.  In fact, I really had no idea what they were other than some vague idea they had something to do with cornmeal.  But what better reason to make them?  I invited some friends, luring them with promises of fried chicken, while trying to hide the fact that they were about to undergo a four hour movie.  Everyone contributed, bringing corn muffins, fried chicken, creamed spinach and sangria.  And I made the grits from an Alton Brown recipe, which turned out well...like grits...

I'm not sure if this is a good thing.  Perhaps I just neglected to add enough cheese.

It was hard to compare, these being my first grits.  My friends insisted that these were grits, and were in fact, quite good.  And they weren't exactly bad, more like glorified polenta than anything else.  My final verdict?  Not bad, not good, just a kind of starchy side dish.  Next time I add jalapeno.

The Grits
You'll Need:
2 cups whole milk
2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup coarse ground cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons butter
4 ounces sharp Cheddar, shredded

1. Place the milk, water, and salt into a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.

2. Once the milk mixture comes to a boil, slowly add the cornmeal while continuously whisking. 

3. Once all of the cornmeal has been absorbed, decrease the heat to low and cover. 
4. Remove lid and whisk frequently, every 3 to 4 minutes, to prevent grits from sticking or forming lumps; make sure to get into corners of pot when whisking. 

5. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until mixture is creamy.  Remove from the heat, add the pepper and butter, and whisk to combine. Once the butter is melted, gradually whisk in the cheese a little at a time.

Remains of the southern fried meal...

Serve immediately and enjoy!   Side note to this recipe: like with most things, you can never have enough cheese or butter with this recipe.  Feel free to experiment!

And now for something completely different...

This doesn't have anything to do with the movie, except that I really wanted to make it!  But it is one of my favorite appetizers to make for guests, especially around the holidays.  I guess this falls into Capra's "happy family" mentality in You Can't Take It With You.  Holiday Brie en Croute is easy, fast and delicious.  But I can't take any credit for it, my mother and I got the recipe years ago from the Pepperidge Farm's Puff Pastry box.  Read my instructions or go to website and see for yourself!

http://www.puffpastry.com/recipedetail.aspx?recipeID=24034&rc=181 

You'll Need:

1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets  (1 sheet), thawed
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
1/3 cup dried cranberry
1/4 cup toasted sliced almond
1 (13- to 16-ounce) Brie cheese round

1. Heat the oven to 400°F.   Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork to make egg wash.
2. Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface.  If it's too frozen, it will crack, but too warm and it will squish together.   Roll the pastry sheet into a 14-inch square. 
3. Spread the jam on the pastry to within 2 inches of the edge in a circle. Sprinkle with the cranberries and almonds.Trim the sides so the entire pastry is a circle.
4. Brush the non-jam part of the pastry with the egg wash.
5. Place the cheese in the center of the pastry. Fold the pastry up over the cheese to cover. Trim the excess pastry and press to seal. 
6. Brush the seam with the egg wash. Place seam-side down onto a baking sheet. Decorate with the pastry scraps, if feeling fancy. Brush the entire pastry with the egg wash.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

The recipe says to let stand for 45 minutes, but I've been fine serving it after only letting to sit for 10.  You can serve this with crackers, crustini, or other forms of bread.  Or...you can just eat it!  But try to have more than two people eating, otherwise, as CAS and I discovered, you'll eat the entire thing and hate yourself for it.

 I also tend to vary the jam I use.  Pepperidge Farm recommends apricot preserves or seedless raspberry jam.  But feel free to use whichever jam or preserve strikes you.  This time I used "Raspberry Peach Champagne Jam" from Stonewall Kitchens.  Yum.  Still confused on the process?  Watch this helpful video from Pepperidge Farm.

Viva La French...Baguette...

So I decided to make a baguette from scratch in honor of Emile Zola and France.  Making bread from scratch is something I've failed miserably at in the past, but my friend SFR swears it's easy.  She bought me a great book called How to Cook Everything, and I thought that I couldn't fail if I just followed that to the letter.

Well, yes and no.  The final product ended up pretty good, but I think it could use some tweaking.  I used bread flour instead of all-purpose flour, which may have effected the outcome.  I also think adding sugar might make it slightly better as well.  But it was good, and my family ate it, so I guess it passes the test!  We'll see if future forays into bread can do any better..although I may need supervision from my bread making friend.

The biggest issue I had?  Finding yeast!  I went to  a big local grocery store and spent a half hour scouring the baking aisle only to leave empty handed.  I should have just bitten the bullet and asked.  "Excuse me 16-year-old who clearly doesn't want to be bagging my groceries, but do you know if you have any yeast?"

The Baguette
You'll Need:
3 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tsps salt
1 1/2 tsps yeast
A few tbsps olive oil
About 1 cup warm water

1. Combine the dry ingredients, preferably in a standing mixer or food processor.
2. Gradually add water until the dough forms a ball.  You don't want it to be too sticky or too dry and flaky; add more flour or water to even out the dough if you have that problem.
3. Dump the dough into a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a cool, dry place at room temperature for 3 hours.
4. When the dough has risen, put it on a floured counter or tabletop, and shape into two small baguettes.  You can shape them however you like.  Place them on a baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap or a cloth so they can rise again, about another hour.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.
6. Once the bread has rise again, use a sharp knife to make baguette slashing marks (if you like).  Use olive oil to coat the bread evenly.  Bake until the crust is hard and golden brown, about 20 minutes.  The internal temperature should be around 210 degrees.  
7. Remove from oven, let cool, and enjoy!  Although my family always eats their bread with olive oil and garlic salt, you can try butter, jam, or even cheese if you want to be really French!

I have to say I might retire from yeast breads for awhile..no offense SFR!  But honestly...a lot of work!  Kind of like this movie...

Green Goddess Dip with Veggies

In It Happened One Night, Clark Gable eats a lot of carrots.  There's a legend that Bugs Bunny's character was inspired by Gable's wisecracking, carrot munching scenes in this movie.  Unfortunately, I absolutely hate carrots.  With a passion.  I hate their smell, their taste, the way they are abnormally orange...apparently I used to spit them back out at my parents as a child.

Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night

My way around it?  I made my favorite Green Goddess Dip and surrounded it with veggies (yes, even carrots).  It's pretty easy to make, but you do need a blender or food processor of some kind.  This recipe is loosely based on Rachel Ray's Groovy Green Goddess Dip.

Green Goddess Dip
You'll need:
2 ripe avocados
1(2-ounce) can anchovies fillets, drained and chopped
1/2 a medium sized red onion, diced
1/3 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped

4 tbsps fresh chives, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped tarragon leaves
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup lite sour cream
1/2 lite cream cheese
Some Black pepper and salt, to taste

Blend all the above ingredients until smooth (I used my blender). You can add more sour cream or cream cheese based on taste.  Thin out the dip with olive oil to make a salad dressing.  And for a different taste use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and cream cheese (suggestion from my guests!).

This dip goes great with assorted veggies and pita chips but I also really enjoyed it on a burger.  Try it and see for yourself!

Frying things is fun...

Since Cavalcade is possibly the most  British film I've EVER seen (and that includes Austin Powers in a Union Jack speedo), I thought Fish and Chips would be appropriate.  I actually can't take all the credit, it was my friends that suggested it.

French Fries go under my original category of things-you-don't-make-from-scratch (see my popcorn post).  I actually even bought back-up frozen fries so that we wouldn't go without should mine prove inedible.  Much to my surprise, there are both easy and delicious.  And deep frying something without a fryer, while a little treacherous, was not as difficult as I thought.  Which brings me back to my original point...frying things is fun!

For the Fish...

You'll need:
2 cups Guinness beer
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 egg
At least 3 cups of All-Purpose flour
8 3-oz cutlets of boneless, skinless cod
At least 2 cups canola oil

1. Pour and measure the Guinness, waiting for the foam to settle.
2. Whisk together Guinness, baking soda, salt, pepper and egg.
3. Continuously whisking, add flour in 1/2 cup increments, until the batter thickens and sticks to whisk.  
4. Put about 1 1/2 cups of flour in separate bowl.
5. If they are not already, cut the fish into manageable pieces (about what you would expect your slice of fish to be).  Heat on high about 3/4 cup oil in a large (4-quart) saucepan.  Wait at least 10 minutes, until the oil is definitely hot.
6. Take the fish and dredge in flour, shaking off excess.  Next dredge in Guinness batter, completely covering fish. set aside on a plate.
7. Slice off a small part of the fish and drop it in the oil, to test heat level.  If the oil bubbles and makes the frying noise, you're all set!
8. Fry each piece of fish, about 5 minutes for each side.  When the fish is golden brown, it's finished.  Add more oil as needed.
9. Garnish with lemon and tartar sauce and serve.  Yum!

For the Chips...
You'll need:
Approximately 5 large Russet potatoes
2-4 tbsps Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Garlic Salt
Old Bay Seasoning

1. Preheat the oven 435 degrees.
2. Wash and dry the potatoes.  Slice them lengthwise into circles, and across again into fry sticks.
3. Place the potatoes on a nonstick baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Add garlic salt and Old Bay Seasoning to taste.
4. Bake the fries until golden brown, squishy on the inside and crispy on the outside, about 45 minutes.  Sprinkle salt over the top and serve with ketchup!

*I like this option because it is slightly healthier than frying the fries.  You can fry them as well, which I did with the oil right before I fried the fish.  The taste wasn't that different, but try both and see which works for you!

When you start frying, it's hard to stop.  My friends wanted to fry more things, and we ending up dipping red onions in the batter and frying them as well!  I suddenly understood what I had never before: what makes a frying machine so popular.  We were turning into a mob, shooting quick glances around the kitchen, trying to find other things we could fry.  But in the end the fish and chips were a huge success.  We ate them with malt vinegar, tartar sauce, and ketchup.

In addition, I'll definitely be making my own fries from now on.  They were so easy and I knew exactly what went into them.  I made the freezer fries, and was frightened to see that no matter how long I left them in the oven, they stayed the same color.  Next to my homemade fries, these fries glowed a sickly highlighter yellow. Scary.

What else...Popcorn!

What’s the best movie snack ever?  Day old rotating pretzels? Nope.  Gross nachos with artificial cheese?  Absolutely not!  I think you know where this is heading…Popcorn!

Popcorn actually became popular around the turn of the century because it could be bought so cheaply.  People would buy popcorn from street vendors and attempt to sneak the food into the movie theaters to enjoy during the movies (clearly not much has changed.)  Movie theater owners did not appreciate this, but popcorn was difficult to make as it required the corn to be popped in a wire cage over flame.  A man named Charles Cretors, however, came up with a solution.  He created and patented the first portable popcorn machine utilizing a steam engine in 1893.  After 1912, popcorn was the staple snack food in movie theaters across the country.

Movie goers be warned—popcorn at theaters is not the healthy snack it is at home.  According to a study done by the Center for Science in the Public Interest in the mid-90s, “Movie Popcorn” is incredibly bad for you.  Because they use coconut oil to pop the corn and then top it with butter or margarine, “a medium size popcorn contains more fat than a breakfast of bacon and eggs, a Big Mac and fries, and a steak dinner combined.”  A large popcorn contains as much saturated fat as six Big Macs and with butter, eight.  Anyone else hate themselves right about now?

Luckily for us, there is a solution!  Sneak in your own popcorn!  Well…maybe not.  But if you want to have some at home try these recipes for a twist on an old idea.  Also—pop your own popcorn!  I swear it’s so much easier than it sounds!

First Step:  Pop the Corn.
I know, I know, this is what microwaves were made for.  But humor me for a second.  If you are still inwardly cringing at the nutrition facts above, popping your own corn allows you to decide just how many saturated fats you are letting into your snack.  And it’s actually surprisingly easy.

You’ll need:
½ cup of popcorn kernels
3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil

1. Grab a large pot with a lid, and add the oil to the bottom.
2. Turn the heat on high, and put three kernels in the pot.
3. When the first one pops, add half a cup of kernels and put the lid on.
4. Wait until there are 2-3 seconds in between pops before taking the popcorn off the heat.  Enjoy!

Cheesy Popcorn
For something different, try this trick.

You’ll need:
Around 8 cups of popped popcorn
1-2 tbsps olive oil
1/3 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese (think the powdery kind)
Kosher Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste.

1. After you pop the corn, drizzle the oil and toss to coat.
2. Add the cheese and toss again.  I find it helps if you use a bowl with a lid and shake it up.  Tin foil works too.
3. Add kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper if you want a little kick.  That’s it!  Pretty easy, huh…

Black and White Popcorn
I got this recipe from http://thewholekitchen.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/black-and-white-popcorn/.  I thought it might be fun to try something new, and I love anything covered in chocolate.  I would be careful though, this popcorn is very rich; I could only eat a little at a time.  So enjoy with friends!

You’ll need:
Around 8 cups air popped popcorn
3 tbsps butter
2 ½ tbsps brown sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 ½ tbsps good quality cocoa powder
¼ tsp kosher salt

1. Melt the butter, cocoa powder, brown sugar and butter in small bowl in the microwave on low. Watch it carefully so that it doesn’t burn or bubble over.
2. Stir with a spoon to meld everything together. When the sugar and butter have melted together, drizzle over the popped corn, and toss quickly to coat.

My favorite recipe?  A little oil and a lot of garlic salt.  Low in calories and super yummy.  But the lesson here:  definitely pop your own corn.  And avoid movie popcorn unless you want a heart attack.