April 2006

1 large red bell pepper
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. Roast The Pepper:

Pre-heat the broiler and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place pepper 4-5 inches from the heat source and broil until the skin is charred black (12-16 minutes). Remove pepper and place in a bag to allow the pepper to “steam” for about 10 minutes. Remove from the bag and peel off the charred skin.

2. Combine the roasted red pepper, vinegar, sugar, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse on and off until the pepper is smoothly purred. If you don’t have a food processor (I’ve never owned one), simply mince the garlic and red pepper as finely as possible - I actually use my blender. Slowly add the oil and incorporate until the vinaigrette is thickened.

Store in the refrigerator. When ready to use, allow it to come to room temperature and stir vigorously.

(The flavor is the most intense if you allow the vinaigrette to stay in the refrigerator for a few days before using.)

Serve over greens or pasta salads. It’s also incredible drizzled over sourdough bread, then broiled.

First of all, here’s a link to what sounds like a Heavenly dessert: Lemon Ice Box Pie. I’ll probably make it this weekend, along with our traditional Easter Coconut Cake.

Second of all, here’s a link to some pretty cute Easter Downloads.

Last, but certainly not least, a great big THANK YOU to those who have e-mailed me sweet messages regarding the loss of my mother. It means the world to me.

Have a beautiful Easter weekend - and if there are any particular recipes you’d like to see on the blog, as always, just e-mail me at joi@buttermilkpress.com! Use the same address if you have a blog you’d like to exchange links with - I’m always looking for new bloggers to link to!

Joi

We use Tobasco Sauce year round in our family, but never more so than during the warm months when the grill’s fired up and going. By September, the stuff’s practically coming out of our pores!

Have you ever logged on to Tobasco.com? Not only are there deliciouso recipes waiting for you, there’s a lot of HOT shopping to be enjoyed. If you’re like me, you don’t want to keep it waiting - so here are a few hotties to get your engine going:

This is the first one I’m going after! Blues legends like Buddy Guy, Irma Thomas, Tinsley Ellis and others share their favorite TABASCO recipes. Pictures of the dishes and interviews with the artists are included. This sounds like some of my kind of cooking done by some of my kind of people. I guarantee there are a lot of great meals waiting to be had here!

From the website:
Preparing chicken just got easier. Just season, pour in your favorite marinade, pop into the oven or grill and your on your way to the best, juiciest chicken you have ever eaten. You get the chicken cooker stand, Lawry’s Red Pepper Seasoned Salt, TABASCO® Garlic Basting/Marinating Sauce and TABASCO marinade recipe.

“…juiciest chicken you have ever eaten…”? Sign me right up!

These wood chips are made from the white oak barrels used to age TABASCO Pepper Sauce. Can you imagine the flavor they’d infuse into your food? One bag is less than $5.00 and is available online only. I’m pretty sure my husband will be wanting several of these. He’s the one who often does the meat on the grill and he takes his craft very seriously. When he’s whipping up his marinade his face looks like he’s whipping up the cure for the common cold or something.

Dunno, maybe he is - I can’t remember the last cold he had!

Have a beautiful day!
Joi

1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1/8 tsp salt
3 tablespoons dark corn syrup
1 cup evaporated milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups pecan halves

Butter the sides of a heavy 2 quart saucepan. Combine sugars, salt, corn syrup, milk and butter in the saucepan. Stir constantly over medium heat (with a wooden spoon) until sugars have dissolved and the mixture comes to a boil.

Continue to cook to a soft-ball stage (236 degrees on a candy thermometer), stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and allow to cool at room temperature for 10 minutes. Add vanilla and nuts. Beat with a spoon by hand for about 2 minutes - or until candy is slightly thick and begins to lose its gloss.

Quickly drop by heaping tablespoons onto waxed paper. If candy becomes too stiff, add a few drops of hot water - be careful not to add too much water, though. Frankly, water-logged candy is gross.

This is just another one of the great recipes from Paula Deen’s Nov./Dec. issue of her magazine. It was like a little cookbook for the price of a magazine….I’ve used and re-used the recipes.

I do love me some Paula Deen!

Joi

1 ripe banana

Peel the banana and cut it into chunks. Freeze the chunks of banana on a plate, uncovered, for at least an hour. (Putting it in the freezer in the morning to have in the evening works great.)

When you’re ready for your simple sorbet, put the chunks in a blender or food processor and process until smooth - scraping down the sides of the container as needed. As the banana thaws slightly, it’ll become smooth and creamy.

Each banana produces 1 serving.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups flour
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Cream butter and sugar in bowl. Beat in eggs, salt and vanilla. Mix well. Sift together soda and flour. Add to creamed mixture. Add bananas and nuts; mix well. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour or until bread tests done when a toothpick is inserted in the middle.

I love to keep Banana Nut Bread on hand for nibbling on all day long. But face it, when it’s 2:00 a.m. and the munchies hit, there’s nothing quite like it.

Have a great week!
Joi

The cutie patooties above are from www.UncommonGoods.com. The set of 4 melamine Ice Cream Dishes are printed with a motif by Andy Warhol. They come with the acrylic serving stand and spoon straws.

The website also has a beautiful set of banana split dishes, also based upon an Andy Warhol design.

To read more about each, go to www.UncommonGoods.com and enter either ICE CREAM CONE DISHES or BANANA SPLIT DISHES in the search box.

Gorgeous!

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
2 TBSP shortening
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine

Combine the first 4 ingredients in bowl. Cut in shortening until nice and crumbly. Add buttermilk; blend well.

Turn onto floured surface and knead gently several times. Pat out to 1/4-inch thickness. Spread with half the butter; fold over to form 2 layers. Brush top with remaining butter. Cut with biscuit cutter. Place 1/2 inch apart in greased 9-inch baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

As you know, I’m all about buttermilk (Guess my website, Buttermilk Press, clues the world in on that one) - it makes absolutely everything better simply by being on the scene. Biscuits are one of the most obvious examples and are a total fascination with me. I love to try out new Buttermilk Biscuit recipes and try new tricks with old ones.

I made the recipe above for supper tonight and they turned out deliciously - very light and flavorful. 10 on a scale of 1-10!

Joi

Shop with Buttermilk Press!

Below is a fascinating recipe that was in the November/December issue of “Cooking with Paula Deen.” Now that my favorite season, Baseball Season, is here - these will make awesome game day snacks.

4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups crispy rice cereal
1/2 tsp salt
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well and form into small balls, about the size of quarters. Flatten each ball with fingertips until dough is very thin. Arrange discs on a cookie sheet.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until crackers are slightly brown around the edges.

Anything within shouting distance of Paula Deen is awesome, and these crackers are no exception.

Give ‘em a try!
Joi

1 can whole kernel sweet corn (yellow) - drained
1 can yellow creamed corn
1 stick butter, melted
1 box Jiffy Corn Bread mix
1 8 oz. carton sour cream

Mix all ingredients in a 9 x 13″ pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Be sure you don’t overbake, though. You want it to be a golden brown - not a dark brown!

A lady made this for a family gathering after my mom’s funeral. I only thought I’d had good corn pudding before that day. This one is truly, truly awesome!

Joi