It’s been a busy cooking time for me. The Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Mississippi was in town, and we had a luncheon for him at St Paul’s Episcopal Church. I was in charge of the salad, and I wanted to do something that incorporated winter vegetables. I headed to the Internet and looked at ideas. Combining several, I decided to mix greens with sliced pears, roasted butternut squash, craisins and toasted almonds. The dressing was olive oil, lemon juice and honey. I topped it with crumbled goat cheese.
I don’t have a recipe with quantities, but here is what we used: canned pears sliced thinly, craisins plumped in warm cranberry juice so they wouldn’t be chewy, and for the squash, I peeled it and then cut it into small cubes. These were tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted at 450 degrees until browned. The dressing was equal parts olive oil and lemon juice with 1/6 part honey, or more to taste, seasoned with salt and pepper. The salad was served with pork tenderloin and baked rice. Since I was a salad girl, I don’t have the rice recipe, but the one shared here is pretty darn close.
After church on Sunday I did some baking for a Monday morning club meeting. As always, I checked the pantry and freezer first to see what was on hand and found pureed strawberries frozen from last spring and fresh frozen blueberries.
For the blueberries, I had laid them on a baking pan and put them in the freezer. Once frozen, I put them in a ziplock bag. So, when I used them for the blueberry buckle they were individually frozen, not clumped up. Oh, what is a buckle, you ask? According to King Arthur Flour, it is a streusel and fruit-topped coffee cake. I put lemon zest in the streusel. The pureed strawberries became moist strawberry walnut bread. I spied a piece of country ham as well and made ham honey butter by cooking the ham in the skillet and then grinding it in the food processor and mixing with soft butter and honey. It was scrumptious on little cream biscuits.
So, my kitchen was a mess on Sunday. On top of the above events it was also Super Bowl 50! Terry likes to watch sports in a small group or alone, so our parties have tended to be under 10 people, or just the two of us. This past game, we were a party of two and I am embarrassed to say what I cooked for him: guacamole, clam dip, chicken wings, potato skins with chili and maybe more. I have two comments about this: First, for crispy skinned oven-baked wings follow the recipe below; it was insanely good. And second, find the recipe for chili beans from “The Pioneer Woman” and use these in your chili. It will kick any recipe into high gear.
Now, it’s time to rest for a few days.
BAKED RICE
Serves 4
2 chopped onions
1⁄4 cup butter
1 cup canned sliced mushrooms
2 cups white rice
2 (10-1/2 ounce) cans beef consomme
CRISPY OVEN WINGS
2 pounds chicken wings
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
WALNUT STRAWBERRY BREAD
Makes one loaf
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups mashed strawberries
1/2 cup vegetable oil
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