HOLIDAY APPS for EATING, NOT CLICKING

Beets and Goats Bruschetta

I've always fallen for that old holiday song about "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." and it conjures up in my head some silly, romantic notion of sitting by the fire and all chores are done, food prepared, gifts wrapped, and there's nothing to do but smell the chestnuts roasting, which I have never, ever done - smelled chestnuts, nor gotten everything done just so. 

Bah Humbug!

Most know that I emit Scrooge-like squawks this time of year.  The holidays just come loaded with such grand expectations, mainly from my Inner Administrator.  And so I stress.

The "holidays" stand the chance of really, truly being that special time of year for making wonderful, magical, fun and humorous memories.  And so, with that in mind, I'm going to push Scrooge aside and plan on gathering with some special friends and my loved ones on several occasions.

And I'll bring one of the following apps, or appetizers, to contribute to the celebrations.  Finger food, each is relatively easy, not very time consuming, and delightfully delicious.  

My wish for all you foodies is to have a relaxing time during this season of sharing gifts, time with loved ones, and sumptuous feasts!

Recipes follow~

 *****     BEETS and GOATS BRUSCHETTA

            Recipe by Elizabeth Wiegand, author of THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK, THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, and FOOD LOVERS’ GUIDE TO NC’S OUTER BANKS, all from Globe Pequot Press.

This version of bruschetta, a spin on the classic combo of roasted beets and goat cheese, makes a beautiful holiday appetizer.

Chop roasted beets; add chives and thyme; smear goat cheese on toast.  Voila!

3 medium beets, about 2 cups

Aluminum foil

4 to 6 ounces goat cheese

2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

½ teaspoon salt or to taste

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper, or to taste

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme or rosemary

1 tablespoon finely chopped chives

1 baguette

Chopped parsley for garnish

1.     Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Wash and trim roots and stems from beets.  Place whole beets in a large square of aluminum foil and seal tightly.  Place the foil package on a baking sheet, and roast in oven for about an hour, maybe a little more, until the tip of a knife goes into the beets easily. 

2.     Allow the beets to cool.  Peel (you may want to use gloves or a paper towel to rub the skin off the beets).  Dice the beets into tiny cubes, about ¼ inch or less.

3.     Meanwhile, set the goat cheese out to soften at room temperature.

4.     Place diced beets into a medium bowl.  Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and herbs.  Carefully mix together.

5.     Preheat broiler.  Cut baguette into thin, diagonal slices.  Brush both sides with olive oil.  Lightly toast both sides under the broiler.

6.     Spread goat cheese onto toasts.  Top with beet mixture.  Garnish with parsley.

Shrimp stuffed "Dare" Devil Eggs

*****    DARE DEVILED EGGS  from THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK, by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2^nd ed. 2013

Watch me prepare this on WSLS Daytime Blue Ridge:  http://www.wsls.com/story/24193954/food-lion-kitchen-dare-deviled-eggs

            
What’s old is new again. . . . Deviled Eggs, a staple of Southern picnics and Sunday gatherings, are making their rounds at wedding receptions and chic cocktail parties.  Here’s a “Dare Deviled” version that includes either shrimp or crabmeat, two of the bounties from the Outer Banks’ Dare County.

            You would think it a simple matter to boil an egg, but there are many ways to accomplish that.  I’ve found this manner works best if you need to shell the eggs without marring the white.  If you unintentionally dismember too many whites of the eggs, just go ahead and make an egg salad. And as I heard Julia Child exclaim once, during a cooking class I was attending, “Never, ever admit a mistake.  That’s what parsley’s for!”

12 eggs, room temperature

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon finely cut chives

½ teaspoon salt

freshly ground pepper, to taste

¼ cup steamed shrimp, chopped fine OR ¼ cup backfin crabmeat

1 teaspoon Old Bay, if desired or sweet paprika

1. Place eggs in a large pot and cover with cold water.  Gently bring to a boil over medium heat.  Watch pot carefully, and immediately remove the pot from the heat when the bubbles begin.  Cook for five minutes, then immediately remove from heat.
2. Drain water from pot, and run cold water over the eggs until water remains cold, about 2 minutes.
3. Peel the eggs.  The best method is to tap them all over on the countertop.  Start at the big end where there is usually an air pocket, and carefully slide the shell away from the whites.  Rinse each egg quickly in cold water if needed to remove any pieces of shell. 
4. Slice each egg in two lengthwise, and carefully pop or scoop out the yolk into a mixing bowl. 
5. Mash the yolks with a fork, then add mayonnaise, mustard, chives, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly.  Then gently fold in either shrimp or crabmeat.
6. Stuff the middle of each egg white with the yolk mixture, and arrange on a serving plate or platter.  Sprinkle the tops with either Old Bay or paprika.

YIELD:  24 stuffed eggs (if you’re lucky!)

****   SHRIMP SALAD from NORTH BANKS, from FOOD LOVERS GUIDE TO NC'S OUTER BANKS, by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2013

            Driving up to Corolla may feel like you’re driving to the end of the earth.  But there’s a heavenly stop before you get to the end of the road.  North Banks Restaurant and Raw Bar, in the TimBuck II shopping center, has a fantastic menu featuring local, coastal cuisine, as well as great dishes from around the globe.  I’ve enjoyed many lovely meals at this casual eatery.

            Here’s a great recipe for Shrimp Salad that can be used to fill lettuce leaves, or sandwich wraps, or in a bun, or enjoyed just by itself.  It makes a vast quantity, perhaps good to have on hand for the start of a vacation.  Otherwise, size it down according to your needs.  If you have time, roast your own red peppers over a hot grill or under the broiler, then peel and chop.

6 pounds shrimp, cooked and chopped

2 cups chopped celery

1 cup whole water chestnuts, rinsed and drained

1 cup chopped roasted red peppers

1 cup chopped red onion

2 to 3 cups mayonnaise, according to preference

1 teaspoon and a pinch of cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon white pepper

Place the celery, water chestnuts, red pepper and onion in the food processor.  Process until all is finely minced.  (Or finely chop all.)

Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, and add other ingredients.  Mix well.  Chill and serve.

YIELD:  About 12 servings

WORTH A GRAIN OF SALT - Outer Banks SeaSalt

What's With All the Salts?  

     "Salt is food's mouthpiece," declares Tamar Adler in her marvelous book, AN EVERLASTING MEAL. How right she is.  Salt makes things taste better, complements other tastes, and helps make the food shine like it's supposed to.  Ever accidentally left salt out of a cookie recipe?  They taste flat.  Or the worst for me was bread dough that took two days of rising and kneading then spraying and baking and praying, and after all that, when I broke into that bread, I cried.  I had forgotten the salt.

 
  We add salt to boiling water for pasta.  Add salt to rice.  My granola recipe tastes so dull without a bit of salt.  Cakes, pies, cornmeal.....they all call for at least a teaspoon of salt.

     

Chewy brownies hit with a sprinkle of Outer Banks SeaSalt 

 
   Amy Huggins Gaw, aka The Outer Banks Epicurean, is an accidental "saltist," she says, and taught me how to "finish" with salt, sprinkling a touch over just-from-the-oven brownies.  They went from being great to being sublime.  That hint of salt makes the chocolate just jump out at ya.  And just a pinch of sea salt rubbed between your fingers over steaks still warm from the grill?  Oh, mighty fine.

OUTER BANKS SEASALT

     As the "accidental saltist," Amy's worth her weight in the white powder, as the knowledgable and creative force behind Outer Banks SeaSalt.

     So how does one make salt?
   
     Wading out into the Atlantic Ocean near Kill Devil Hills, Amy and husband John Gaw gather buckets of sea water, which they take back to their working kitchen.

    Ten gallons at a time are put through a two-day process of heating up, resting, and heating up again to get the water to evaporate and allow the salt to crystallize.  She estimates that one gallon of water produces only three and a half ounces of salt.  That's over a gallon of water to produce that small bottle of Outer Banks SeaSalt pictured above.

    It's a very flaky salt. Too coarse for a typical salt shaker, it can cake together, as it has no preservatives.  Amy says she shudders when sees anybody shaking up her jars.  But that really doesn't bother the pure, clean taste of this sea salt.  And what better way to have a taste of the Outer Banks?  If you'd like to order some or find stores that carry her salt, check out her website here.

     Be sure to try Amy's terrific and easy recipe for salty, candied pecans, listed below.

NOT THE 1ST SALT "WORKS" on the COAST

     Before the advent of "making" ice, salt was vital.  It was used not just to season, but to preserve.  Meat was salted and dried, as was fish.

     How important was salt?  Back in 1775, there were three laws on the books of the fledging Provincial Congress dealing with salt.  One set a price ceiling; another rationed the salt supply; and the other offered a reward for the first person to establish a salt "works."  A century later, there were several producing salt along NC's coast - in Currituck County in the Outer Banks, others near Beaufort and Morehead City, and down around Wilmington.  You can still see the outdoor salt oven and huge cast iron pans used at the Sloop Point Plantation near Topsail Beach.  Confederate soldiers received a pound and a half of salt per month among their rations.

     Earlier, during the Revolutionary War, salt became really scarce; thus those three laws.  British ships captured salt shipments from the West Indies.  Pirates did, too.  Ships carrying supplies sank.  Folks were getting desperate all over the South, especially along the Outer Banks, where salt was used to store fish.  Remember, no ice!

     So a plea from the Outer Banks was raised to the new Congress in Philadelphia, and Benjamin Franklin sent the Outer Bankers a gift: a pamphlet describing how to go about making salt from sea water.  Salt "boiling" soon got underway, and it was reported that "....every Old Wife is now scouring her pint pot for the necessary operation."

     Evaporation is not the only source of salt, however.  Morton Salt lists facilities in Texas and Louisiana where underground salt deposits, called salt domes, are mined, then processed to strip away minerals to make it pure white, and anti-clumping chemicals are added. Other salt deposits rim the Great Lakes region, and there's one in Kansas.  China is second only to the US in salt production.

    One could argue that all salt was once upon a time a product of the sea, even if it was trapped below the earth's surface, right?

     You'll see several varieties of big chunks of salt in various colors for sale now at gourmet shops, sold with a salt "grater," too.  And there are so many varieties of "sea salts," like flour de sel, the premium and most expensive salt that's skimmed from salt ponds by hand; and Celtic and Himalayan, which claim more healthy nutrients because of their gray and pink colors, respectively, which represent different elements.

Clockwise:  kosher salt, Outer Banks SeaSalt, Himalayan salt, smoked sea salt

     And then there's kosher salt, that's been pressed and re-cut, and dissolves more quickly so tastes saltier even though it isn't.  And we've all poured rock salt on the ice in our ice cream makers to keep the temp as cold as possible.

     This old salt could bore you to tears about all the types of salt available.  Take this with a grain of salt:  on my stove there are three container, one filled with "sea salt" from a grocery store shelf; one with kosher salt; and the best, in my book, a container of Outer Banks SeaSalt.

     If "you're worth one's salt" in the kitchen, just try a variety of salts and see what works best for you. (That phrase came from Roman soldiers being paid an allowance of salt called a "salarium," what we call a "salary" today.)

RECIPE from THE OUTER BANKS EPICUREAN
     Amy Huggins Gaw, aka The Outer Banks Epicurean, (also on Facebook) graciously allowed me to share this recipe, which she uses to top off a sweet potato dish with caramel sauce....so very good I don't know if it's a veggie or a dessert!  These pecans make a great snack or appetizer, or as a nice surprise in a salad or topping for casseroles or cakes......  Enjoy many ways!

SALTY CANDIED PECANS

2 1/2 cups N.C. pecans, chopped
2 teaspoons good butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 or 4 generous pinches of Outer Banks SeaSalt
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla

Toss pecans in the melted butter, then roast in a preheated 300 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring frequently.  Cool.

Combine sugar, cinnamon, salt, and water in a saucepan; cook, stirring, over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Boil to 236 degrees, the soft-ball stage.  Remove from heat; add vanilla and pecans and stir until mixture is creamy.

Turn out onto waxed paper and use a fork to separate pecans.  These are vey hot.  Wait for them to cool before you pop one in your mouth.  At this point you can hit them with another pinch of SeaSalt if you are feeling extra salty.

Gated alleys in Charleston are always intriguing.  May we come in?

COLD in CHARLESTON = CAULIFLOWER SOUP

     "Doing the Charleston" in our book means "eating well."  On a recent weekend getaway, our Christmas present to each other, we failed to miss a meal. We hustled to make it south through South Carolina to the Holy City, as Charleston is known, for Friday dinner at FIG (Food is Good), at the only time available, an early 5:30.  No problem.  We lingered over cocktails, then sated our appetites with three divine courses, finishing early enough to "walk it off" downtown.   

A Bloody Mary, spiked with a slice of country ham and a pickled green bean, is an excellent way to start Sunday Brunch at HUSK.

     After a morning walk, we ambled for a lunchtime worship at Sean Brock's HUSK, where only regional, Southern foods are served. 

      Not even olive oil was poured in this kitchen until Chef Brock found an olive grove in Texas that was producing a good quality oil.  Just the whole idea of serving only what you find in your region, in season, is so radical to many, but I love it, and that has earned Chef Brock accolades from the food world.  We were so enamored with our first meal, that back we went for Brunch on Sunday.  Unfortunately, dinner reservations require about a month's lead time.  

Consider the Source, at HUSK in Charleston, SC

In the meantime, we walked and walked to make room for yet another worship session at Sean Brock's table, this time for dinner at McCRADY's. 

     

REGIONAL SPECIALTIES

    I was delighted to find on these menus some of my favorite providers, like BORDER SPRINGS FARM's gorgeous and delicious Kathadin lamb.  And cider to pair with pork and rabbit from FOGGY RIDGE CIDER.  

    

 

CAULIFLOWER SOUP
     One of the dishes we loved at HUSK was a sumptuous, seasonal soup made with roasted cauliflower.  That bitter taste that cauliflower sometimes has just disappears when roasted, getting sweeter and more flavorful.
     So, when I got home, I had fun in the kitchen trying to reproduce that soul-warming dish.  I love that fact that it's so creamy, yet it has NO CREAM, unless you just can't help yourself and add it at the end.
     We had some duck confit on hand, and that made an excellent garnish and companion to the soup.
      And, it's EASY.  Please give the recipe that follows a try!

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER SOUP Recipe

1 to 2 heads of cauliflower
1 medium sweet onion, peeled and cut into quarters
1 whole head garlic
about 1/4 cup olive oil
bunch of fresh thyme
about 4 cups vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped parsley, for garnish
OPTIONAL:  1/2 cup heavy cream
   2 to 4 tablespoons chopped duck confit

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Break cauliflower into small clumps of florets.  Place them in a roasting pan.  Add onion.

Slice off the top quarter of the garlic head.  Coat it with a drizzle of olive oil, and add to the roasting pan.  Add 4 to 6 sprigs of thyme.  Then drizzle all with olive oil, stirring, until all glistens.  Loosely cover with foil, and place in oven until cauliflower is very tender, about 30 minutes.  Remove and cool.

Squeeze the softened, roasted garlic from its paper coat.  Remove the thyme sprigs.

If you have an immersion blender, place all roasted veggies in a large pot.  Add about half of the vegetable stock, and puree. Or, use a blender to puree with a smaller amount of the stock.

Pureed and simmering

After the mixture is pureed, add enough stock as needed for your desired consistency.  Bring to a soft boil, then turn the heat down and simmer gently to warm through.  Add more thyme leaves (removed from the stems), and season with salt and pepper.  When the soup is hot enough, stir in about 2/3s of the Parmesan.

Ladle the soup into bowls, then garnish with more Parmesan and parsley.  Add duck confit if using.


                                               ~~~~

2nd EDITION OF THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK has hit the stores!  Loving the new, color photos and about a dozen new recipes and stories!  Please let me know what you think.