Lisa Kuebler's Open Salon Blog

Bread Pudding to Remember Our Humble Beginnings

Tue, 17 May 2011 22:05:53 -0400

Louisiana is back in the news, and once again, for all the wrong reasons. For those who haven't had the time to keep up with the news, in anticipation of massive overflow of the Mississippi River resulting from snowmelt and heavy rains, Louisiana has engineered the flooding of backwater Cajun communities in the hopes of diverting the waters from New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Hundreds of fish camps and rural communities, known for their drawling dialect and laissez-faire attitudes, are at risk of being wiped out. As I write this, they're filling sandbags and packing their cars with their most treasured possessions, preparing to evacuate with no certainty that they'll have a home to come back to once the waters come.

Lousiana has been near and dear to my heart for a while now. Where many people see the crime rates, the lagging education, and the poverty, I see the rich culture, the history, and of course, the food. My heart breaks for the residents of the state once again, and I hope they'll pull through, as they always have.

The recent news stories about the flooding made me think back to my first trip to New Orleans, in the 1990s, well before several life-changing events, including both Hurricane Katrina for Lousiana and motherhood for me. It was a simpler time for both me and that city...neither of us was jaded just yet, but I think we've both come out better on the other side.

~ ~ ~

I met Chris my first day of college. He was a sophomore; I was a freshman. A lonely freshman. Only three people from my high school went to the same college I did, and they weren’t close friends. So, my first night there, my roommate asked if I wanted to go eat pizza at her boyfriend’s dorm and meet some people. “Why not?” I thought. We went, and Chris was there. Six months later, we went on our first date. Fast forward three and a half years from that, and we were getting married. I was 22 years old, had a diploma and an entry-level job, and no money saved up. He was 23 and had a job that required extensive travel (about 98%) and didn’t pay nearly enough to make it worth it. But we both had work and we were in love, and that’s all that mattered to us.

My parents gave us our wedding. It was the wedding of my mother’s dreams. But, she and my dad were accustomed to both hosting and attending lavish parties, so they threw us a fantastic one. I loved it.

The honeymoon was up to us. Being very young and just starting out, we didn’t have much in the way of funds. So, we sat down one night and started making rules. We chose our location by gradually whittling down our options: “No international travel.” “Must stay east of the Mississippi.” (We lived in Florida at the time.) “No beaches.” And so on. Eventually we settled on New Orleans. Neither of us had ever been. It wasn’t too far away, but it sounded like there would be plenty there for us to enjoy.

We set our budget, trolled Travelocity and chose a great hotel in the middle of the French Quarter, and started planning our itinerary. On vacations, I like to squeeze in as much as possible. Chris likes to relax as much as possible. So, we compromised and decided on one set activity a day, plenty of hanging out in the hotel, wandering the streets of the Quarter, and possibly exploring more of the city.

Every night, we’d have dinner in a different restaurant, trying to sample all of the traditional, famous recipes of the Crescent City. One of our favorite meals was at The Gumbo Shop, a little restaurant on St. Peter Street. The gumbo is divine, the etouffee melts in your mouth and warms your soul, but it’s the bread pudding that, well, “takes the cake.” We have been back to New Orleans many times, and we always make time to eat dinner at The Gumbo Shop. The meal is always finished off with their Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce. On off years, when we can’t make the trip, I make the dessert at home, and we sit and enjoy it, remembering “letting the good times roll.” Très magnifique!

Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce (from The Gumbo Shop cookbook)

¼ cup butter

3 cups milk

2 quarts day-old French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes

½ cup cubed pineapple

½ cup raisins

Pinch of salt

½ cup sugar

½ tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. vanilla

3 large eggs, beaten

Combine the milk and butter in a saucepan and heat until the butter is melted. In a large mixing bowl combine the bread, pineapple, and raisins and toss to mix. Add the milk and butter mixture, mix, and let stand for several minutes, allowing the bread to absorb the liquid.

Mix the sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the vanilla to the beaten eggs, then mix in the sugar and spices. Pour all this over the bread and milk mixture and mix well.

Transfer the pudding to a greased 1 ½ quart baking pan and bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm, topped with about 3 tablespoons of Whiskey Sauce.

Whiskey Sauce

¼ cup butter, softened

2 cups confectioners sugar

1 jigger bourbon

Using electric mixer, slowly cream the sugar into the butter. Slowly beat in the bourbon.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Treats

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 14:11:24 -0500

A few weeks ago, Lucy Mercer approached many of the SKC frequent contributors with a proposition. Would we like to join her in participating in the Imperial Sugar "Bake it Forward" project? The project involves the procuring of an Imperial Sugar tin, filling it with goodies, and mailing it to a friend, all the while tracking the package online to see where it ends up.

I replied immediately. Count. Me. In.

Last Friday morning, I went to my front door, and there sat a box, addressed in lovely penmanship (and we thought she could only type!), to me from Lucy. My youngest child was ecstatic. A package! I let him help open it.

Christmas came early this year!

As soon as the seal of the outer box was broken, the lovely, holiday smell of gingerbread took over my living room. Ahhhh... :)

Score!

To anyone who hasn't made Lucy's Spicy Ginger Cookies yet, I beg you, make them. Soon. They're fantastic. I've had to hide them from my husband, twice, because he keeps finding them and scarfing them down.

A half-eaten ginger-pecan mouthful of goodness from Lucy

The box also contained oatmeal raisin cookies, also divine. Mine never turn out as good as these are.

And now the time has come to Bake It Forward. The next lucky(?) winner will receive a box containing the tin, filled with cherry cream cheese brownies and Aunt DeeDee's famous pound cake. I'm crossing my fingers these things travel well. Don't worry...I'll pack them very carefully.

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Aunt DeeDee's pound cake is a famous holiday recipe amongst my extended family and our close friends. It's been included in numerous church and community cookbooks, and it's become something of a ritual to make sure that when a bird leaves the nest, he or she has a copy of this recipe. It's a classic butter pound cake, simple to make. It's delicious on its own, but also good with a homemade chocolate or caramel sauce, fresh berries, or whipped cream.

Aunt DeeDee was my grandmother's sister (my mother's aunt). She died maybe 30 years ago, but I can't make this recipe without thinking of her, and the few scattered memories I have of her in my mind. She was an elegant lady, mother to three children, and, in my mind, always wore her Sunday best (of course, the only time I ever saw her were Easters spent in Virginia, so that may have a little something to do with that last image).

My paternal grandmother ADORED this cake. Once she got her hands on the recipe, she made it every time we went to visit her in Florida. It's always part of our Thanksgiving and Christmas tables, but it's made throughout the year whenever members of our family gather.

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The Recipe

You will need

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup margarine, softened (this is written as 8 TBSP oleo in the original recipe, but I translated)

3 cups sugar

5 eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla

3 cups flour

1 cup milk (skim will work, but whole or even 2% makes a difference)

Cream sugar, butter, and margarine until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time,* beating well after each addition. Alternate adding flour and milk, starting and finishing with flour. Stir in vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan.** Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 20 minutes, checking after the first hour.

*A trick I taught my grandmother: She couldn't believe this worked, but was amazed and told all her friends about it afterward. She was complaining about having to turn off the mixer and put it down every time she needed to add an egg (she had a handheld mixer, not a stand variety). I told her she could crack all 5 eggs into a cup or pyrex measuring cup, then using just one hand, she could pour one in at a time while mixing. She didn't believe it until she tried it, but it works like a charm - they'll plop in one at a time, leaving your other hand free to mix away. I think I learned this watching Martha Stewart one day on television.

**When the cake is done, it may have a crack in the top. Do not put your cake tester in through that crack. In a perfectly baked Aunt DeeDee pound cake, there's a soft spot near the top, just under that crack, that we all call "the dough bite." It's cooked enough, just a little softer than anywhere else on the cake, and it's the best bite there is. For some reason, it will not cook to the point of testing for doneness, and if you try to "bake it out," the cake will dry out. Test for doneness in any uncracked spot for a reliable indication.

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The Cherry Cheesecake Brownies recipe came from the Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor cookbook. A bit of a cheat, I know, but they're delicious. The only two from-scratch brownie recipes I ever make come from this site: Lulu and Phoebe's and Lucy Mercer's. They're both fantastic.

If anyone else wants to join in the goodie swap, I don't think it's too late to be added to the list. Contact Lucy or leave a message in the comments if you'd like to participate.

Thanksgiving in the South

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 21:11:13 -0500

When I think back to the Thanksgivings of my childhood, I remember trips to Florida, to my Nanny and Papa's house, where the kids might venture for a chilly (but not cold) dip in the pool while the moms and aunts and Nanny did the cooking and the dads and Papa did....I'm not sure what. They carved the turkey, but I'm not sure what they did while everything else was going on. Played lifeguard, I suppose, and tried to stay out of the way. A tiny galley kitchen with four cooks and about 15 dishes had no room for anything else!

When all was ready, we would stand around the table, sinking under the weight of all the deliciousness, and my dad was often the one that said the blessing. He was quite the public speaker and enjoyed the chance to have the spotlight for a few minutes, I think, but had all his attention turned toward "Our Heavenly Father," who he addressed at the start of his speech. He gave thanks for all of our many blessings throughout the year, remembered those who couldn't be with us that particular holiday, and "especially" thanked God for his mom, "The Matriarch of Our Family," at the end. Every year. The blessing hasn't been the same since we lost that matriarch three Thanksgivings ago, and I think our family still feels a little lost without her, especially around the holidays. He always finished his blessing (every day, not just on Thanksgiving), with what I understand to be a very Southern, unique phrase - "And bless the cook." It's nice, I think.

And then we could eat.

The table was laden with all of the usual suspects - turkey, dressing (in our family we don't stuff, we dress), gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry, and rolls. Then there were the Southern favorites - lima beans, corn casserole (you may call in corn pudding), mashed potatoes, turkey rice, homemade macaroni and cheese (yes), a jello mold (my mother's specialty), and either broccoli or green bean casserole, or both. And deviled eggs. And a pickle tray.

It's a good thing the table was a large one.

After we were stuffed to the point of needing to roll each other out of the dining room, we'd stake claim on a couch or bed or a patch of floor and sleep it off for a little while. Then, around 4:00 or 4:30 (we usually ate between one and two), we'd start wandering back into the kitchen, looking for dessert. There, we'd have to make the choice between pumpkin pie, apple pie, pecan pie, and Aunt DeeDee's pound cake. Always all four desserts, because how could you choose which one to cut from the menu?

After my grandfather died about 15 years ago, we sometimes had Thanksgiving at my parents' house. The traditions and the people were all the same (Nanny, the matriarch, came up to South Carolina), and the food was mostly the same. The only thing that changed, really, is that about 10 years ago, we started deep frying the turkey. There's something to be said about the camaraderie of standing around the 5 gallon fryer out on the driveway, wearing coats and gloves, talking and cutting up. The men now have a place to convene. Many things are dropped into that fryer before the turkey gets its turn. For my brother, there is always fried cheese. For my children, there are always homemade french fries. Sometimes there are fried shrimp or oysters. When people get silly, there are things like fried candy bars and twinkies. Then, finally, about the time people start getting full, the turkey goes in, injected with the secret sauce, to be deep fried to a golden brown. It's deliciously moist and juicy, and the flavor is unbelievable.

A couple of fearless fryers

This year for Thanksgiving, my brother and his new bride will be spending Thursday with her family at the beach. My husband, children, and I will stay home and have Thanksgiving with his mother on Thursday at noon. Then, later that day, we'll pack up the car and head to my parents' house for the long weekend. My brother and his wife will be back on Friday. I'm guessing that Friday afternoon (after we get back from shopping the black Friday sales), my mother's kitchen will be bustling and her table will be bowing under the weight of our traditional holiday meal, because, as my mother has often said, "It's not about the day, it's about the family." So, whenever we're all there together, we'll celebrate our family Thanksgiving and count all of our many blessings, not the least of which are having each other to count on throughout the year.

My pre-Thanksgiving feast: corn casserole, broccoli & peas, macaroni & cheese, and parmesan-crusted pork tenderloin.

Aunt Jen's Corn Casserole

You will need:

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

2 cans cream-style corn

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup sour cream

1 stick butter or margarine, melted

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

Optional add-ins: grated cheddar cheese, 1 small can diced green chiles

To Make:

Mix all ingredients until combines. Pour into sprayed 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. (Excellent with turkey, but also good with any meal...we love it with pork tenderloin, grilled chicken, or just on a veggie plate.)

Homemade Macaroni & Cheese

You will need:

1 pound small pasta (elbow macaroni is traditional, my children are partial to shells, any small shape will do)

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1-2 cloves minced garlic

Salt & pepper to taste

2 cups milk

2 cups grated cheese (I use a mix of colby jack & mozzarella, but cheddar, provolone, and even swiss are good)

To make:

Boil pasta according to package directions. Drain & set aside. In the same pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for a minute or two (do not brown). Add flour, salt, and pepper and whisk until smooth. Slowly add milk, whisking to avoid lumps. When all milk is incorporated, turn off the heat and add the cheese, stirring until melted and smooth. Add pasta, stir until combined. At this point, you can serve it as is, keep it warm in the crock pot, or pour into a casserole dish, top with more cheese or buttered breadcrumbs, and bake at 350 until browned and bubbly.

Feeding boys: a grocery rant

Fri, 5 Nov 2010 16:11:21 -0400

I wrote this about a year and a half ago, when I had a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old. They are now 6 and 4 and the situation has only gotten worse. :)

* * *

What's up, Doc?

I knew teenage boys would be expensive to feed. What I did not realize, however, is that, where food is concerned, the "teenage" appetite begins about the time they graduate from baby food to the stuff everyone else eats.

Yesterday Zach and I had been out and about while Alex was at school, and we didn't manage to get any lunch before we had to pick Alex up at 1:00. So, after picking him up, we stopped at a local restaurant. I told Alex he could get a drink. When we got to the counter, he ordered a grilled cheese and fries. I asked, "Didn't you eat lunch at school," and he replied "Yes, but that was a long time ago." (They eat at 12:15.)

When our CSA delivery got here, the boys were munching on apples before I even got everything else put away. Between the two of them, they ate 3 apples and 5 or 6 (smallish) carrots. This was just a snack. It was followed by dinner of homemade pizza, salad, and fruit, and then cupcakes for dessert because we were celebrating Alex's "half-birthday."

It didn't stop today. They had grilled cheese for lunch and went through half a loaf of bread. and half a bag of pirate booty. and more strawberries and carrots.

a typical snack

Zach ate about 5 pancakes for breakfast one morning last weekend.

I'm not sure how they manage to stay within the normal weight parameters for their age. They're both tall and "normal" as far as weight goes.

Do all preschool boys eat this way?? Can anyone help me forecast my grocery list/budget for 10 years from now?? Do I need to move to a ranch in the midwest where we raise our own cattle and grow a huge garden so I can keep them fed?!

Oiy.

An ounce of pumpkin is worth a pound of cake

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 01:11:49 -0400

For as long as I can remember, all Southern family functions have involved a pound cake. If someone comes for a visit, bake a pound cake. When a baby's born, take the family a pound cake. When someone dies, bake a pound cake. When someone new moves into the neighborhood, bake them a pound cake. You get the idea.

Pound cakes originated in England in the early 1700s, and followed a very basic, easy-to-remember recipe. The name "pound" referred to the 4 ingredients, butter, flour, sugar, and eggs. The recipe required a pound of each of those. This made for a very large cake, and many adaptations have been made since then to adjust for smaller cakes, as well as lighter cakes (true pound cake is rather dense), but the name has stuck. In my corner of the south, pretty much any cake made in a bundt pan is called a pound cake, save monkey bread, but that's another recipe for another day.

My mother's aunt was FAMOUS for her pound cakes. Even though she died at least 20 years ago, our family and friends still talk about Aunt DeeDee and her pound cakes. My father's mother loved the recipe so much she contributed it to her own church cookbook, properly crediting it as "Dee Dee's Pound Cake by Eleanor Hunt."

Growing up, my favorite and often-requested birthday cake was another of Aunt DeeDee's recipes, the chocolate pound cake. Drizzled with a chocolate glaze and sprinkled with toasted almonds or pecans, I could sit at the kitchen table and swear I was in heaven for the few minutes I savored that dessert. It was time consuming to make, but it was one of my own mother's favorites, as well, so she never seemed to mind making it. When I was in college and came home for weekends, that cake was often waiting for me, too, along with homemade lasagna. That was my mother's way of telling me she missed me and that she was glad I was home, I think.

In addition to the classic Aunt DeeDee pound cake as well as the chocolate version, we had a few other variations of pound cake we'd make on occasion. Cinnamon comes to mind (my husband's favorite), and sour cream (which my grandmother was quite fond of). In the fall, though, when there's a slight chill in the air and the leaves crunch under your shoes, there's nothing better than a slice of warm pumpkin pound cake to get you in the mood for the approaching holidays.

Pumpkin Pound Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups solid pack pumpkin

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.

Sift together flour, soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

In large bowl, combine oil and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and mix well. Add the flour mixture and beat until smooth. Add nuts and pumpkin and blend until smooth. Pour batter into pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto wire rack to finish cooling. Dust with confectioner's sugar or drizzle with a simple sugar glaze before serving.

Enjoy!