I Love To Cook
I love to cook. I love to look at cookbooks in my spare time. I love to plan menus for parties weeks, if not months, in advance. I look forward to trying out new recipes and often do when friends come over. My husband thinks it strange that I do that, not using a familiar recipe when we entertain, but I think it is fun. It makes me look forward to the meal even more so than my guests do, I hope.
I just made another batch of Eva's Biscuits and Daughter now joins me for the rolling and cutting. She does not last too long, but it's great she wants to help. Son will too every now and then. Very rarely did I make things from scratch a few years ago, but now almost everything out of my kitchen is homemade. Once you get the hang of it, it is so much easier to plan supper or whip something up in a flash. If I want biscuits for dinner, I make them. Pie for dessert, make that too. No last minute trips to the grocery store. Well, not as many last minute trips to the grocery store. I know I have talked about "from scratch" in another post but I think it is important. It is a fading practice and soon will be a lost art. We have a new restaurant in town that specializes in the Southern staple chicken salad. I have heard it is wonderful, I have heard it is the best chicken salad ever, but I have not tried it yet. If I want chicken salad, I make it. I do eat out and love to do so, and will probably eat at this restaurant soon enough, but we now live in a world of "it is easier to buy it". And it is, but we are losing our food heritage. I want my grandchildren to make Eva's Biscuits, Kitty's Oyster Casserole, and Aimee's Pie.
Southern food is simple food. Most recipes don't have more than five or six ingredients because they don't need any more than that. Old Junior League cookbooks from around the South are filled with these simple, tried and true recipes. My favorite cookbook is the Junior League Cookbook of Newnan, GA, A Taste of Georgia, published in 1977. As you go through your grandmother's cookbooks and peruse a yard sale or your local Junior League rummage sale, look for these treasures. Learn to make these old recipes before they are lost forever.
Aimee's Pie is really Fudge Pie. I renamed it because every time I make it, I think of my friend Aimee who is fond of saying about dessert, "If it's not chocolate, it's just not worth it."
2 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 stick of butter
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs, beaten
One 9 inch unbaked pie shell, you can do store bought but homemade makes this irresistible
Preheat oven to 375. Melt the chocolate and butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat when melted and add the sugar, then beaten eggs. Beat well. Pour filling in unbaked pie crust and bake for 25 minutes. This can dry out quickly so the first time you make it, check it at 20 minutes. The middle should "give" a little when pressed. Serve warm or cold. It is divine warm with a little whipped cream or ice cream. Add about a teaspoon of orange extract to the whipping cream and it adds an extra layer of flavor that is out of this world; and you won't need to add sugar to the whipping cream. (Whip one cup of heavy cream in a mixer until stiff peaks form).
Pie Crust
makes 2, 9 inch pie shells
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup Crisco
5 tbsp ice water
Sift together flour and salt. Work Crisco into flour with fingers or pastry blender until it resembles coarse crumbs. Work in enough water to hold dough together. Roll out on lightly floured surface. If using a baked shell, bake at 425 for around 10 minutes.
I just made another batch of Eva's Biscuits and Daughter now joins me for the rolling and cutting. She does not last too long, but it's great she wants to help. Son will too every now and then. Very rarely did I make things from scratch a few years ago, but now almost everything out of my kitchen is homemade. Once you get the hang of it, it is so much easier to plan supper or whip something up in a flash. If I want biscuits for dinner, I make them. Pie for dessert, make that too. No last minute trips to the grocery store. Well, not as many last minute trips to the grocery store. I know I have talked about "from scratch" in another post but I think it is important. It is a fading practice and soon will be a lost art. We have a new restaurant in town that specializes in the Southern staple chicken salad. I have heard it is wonderful, I have heard it is the best chicken salad ever, but I have not tried it yet. If I want chicken salad, I make it. I do eat out and love to do so, and will probably eat at this restaurant soon enough, but we now live in a world of "it is easier to buy it". And it is, but we are losing our food heritage. I want my grandchildren to make Eva's Biscuits, Kitty's Oyster Casserole, and Aimee's Pie.
Southern food is simple food. Most recipes don't have more than five or six ingredients because they don't need any more than that. Old Junior League cookbooks from around the South are filled with these simple, tried and true recipes. My favorite cookbook is the Junior League Cookbook of Newnan, GA, A Taste of Georgia, published in 1977. As you go through your grandmother's cookbooks and peruse a yard sale or your local Junior League rummage sale, look for these treasures. Learn to make these old recipes before they are lost forever.
Aimee's Pie is really Fudge Pie. I renamed it because every time I make it, I think of my friend Aimee who is fond of saying about dessert, "If it's not chocolate, it's just not worth it."
2 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 stick of butter
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs, beaten
One 9 inch unbaked pie shell, you can do store bought but homemade makes this irresistible
Preheat oven to 375. Melt the chocolate and butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat when melted and add the sugar, then beaten eggs. Beat well. Pour filling in unbaked pie crust and bake for 25 minutes. This can dry out quickly so the first time you make it, check it at 20 minutes. The middle should "give" a little when pressed. Serve warm or cold. It is divine warm with a little whipped cream or ice cream. Add about a teaspoon of orange extract to the whipping cream and it adds an extra layer of flavor that is out of this world; and you won't need to add sugar to the whipping cream. (Whip one cup of heavy cream in a mixer until stiff peaks form).
Pie Crust
makes 2, 9 inch pie shells
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup Crisco
5 tbsp ice water
Sift together flour and salt. Work Crisco into flour with fingers or pastry blender until it resembles coarse crumbs. Work in enough water to hold dough together. Roll out on lightly floured surface. If using a baked shell, bake at 425 for around 10 minutes.
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