Food Processor

When I was her apprentice, Nathalie Dupree spent hours on my baking and pastry education, patiently showing me again and again how to create perfect pie crusts, homemade breads, puff pastry, and rolls, until I had the techniques down cold. She crafted this recipe for beginners: it’s an easy crust for novices because it’s made in the food processor and because of the combination of butter and shortening. Shortening does not melt as readily as butter does and makes for a more forgiving dough. As Nathalie knew, a beginner’s first taste of sweet success in the pastry kitchen can be inspirational. For a double-crust pie, simply double the amounts and divide the dough before rolling out.

Gazpacho is essentially a liquid salad. It’s best prepared at the height of summer, using fresh, local ingredients—I always use Georgia-grown vegetables when I make this gazpacho. The key is to use the proper amount of salt to draw out the moisture and flavor of the vegetables. There is nothing so simple, yet so vitally essential to cooking, as salt. Without salt even the most elaborate dish would be lifeless and dull. I remember staring incredulously as my chef in culinary school would toss what seemed to be handfuls of salt into food. Now I giggle when my students stare at me when I do the same!

I reach for my immersion blender when I prepare pureed soups. If you don’t have one, a regular blender is fine, but use it with care: let hot soup cool for about ten minutes before blending, or the steam could force the lid off. Don’t fill the blender carafe more than halfway or the whirling soup could force off the lid and spew out. Finally, hold the lid on tightly with a heavy-duty kitchen towel. You’ll find many types of winter squash in your produce department. For this sweet-savory soup, reach past the standard acorn and butternut varieties for something new like carnival, delicata, or kabocha for a different feel and flavor.

Sweet, nutty butternut squash is one of fall’s most delicious vegetables. It is wonderful roasted, in a soup, or as a creamy puree. A touch of brown sugar brings out its natural sweetness. For a great change of pace, try this as a side dish instead of mashed potatoes.

Most members of my family have never been fond of lamb. Dede always called it “sheepy-sheepy” and Mama thinks they look too gentle and sweet to eat. I was inducted into the lamb fan club when testing recipes for Nathalie Dupree. Lamb chops are earthy, rich, and faintly sweet. However, the fat can be overwhelming and strong, especially when chilled or at room temperature. Remove as much fat as possible before cooking, and serve the chops immediately so they don’t have a chance to cool.

We bought my grandmother a food processor, but she continued to use her hand-cranked shredder for grating. Made of cast aluminum, it was a sturdy beast that attached to the counter with a vise. She would peel the carrots and Dede would patiently shred them into a large bowl for carrot slaw. This recipe is a bit more complex in flavor and technique than Meme’s, and I use a food processor to shred the vegetables. Just make sure you shred the carrots first! To prevent the beets from staining the carrots when mixed in the salad, the key is to dress the beets before combining with the carrots. This seals in their red pigments (betalains), which don’t dissolve in oil.

In French, tartine means a slice of bread with jam, butter, or other spread. It’s a typical after-school snack for children. But there is nothing childlike about this grown-up version: baguette toasts covered with a savory, deliciously salty tapenade, enhanced with capers. Adding capers to olives and anchovies may seem redundantly salty, but they add another layer of flavor. As Meme grew older, her doctor told her to avoid seeds. She loved all sorts of fresh vegetables and typically “worked around” this restriction. I was happy to help her out by removing tomato seeds. Here is my way: halve the tomato crosswise through its midsection with a serrated knife. Use your index finger to scoop out the seeds from each half, then give the tomato a gentle squeeze to draw out any seeds that remain.

I made these once for a political fundraiser at my friend Melita Easter’s house, attended by the governor of Georgia, who stood there and practically ate the whole plate. The secret is butter, a tip I picked up in culinary school that takes this Southern staple from delicious to sublime and renders people unable to use the sense God gave a cat to stop eating. If you don’t have a specially designed plate for serving deviled eggs, with cuplike indentations to keep the eggs from rolling, simply trim off a sliver from the bottom of the cooked white before you fill the eggs with the yolk mixture. Garnish the platter with leaves of butter lettuce or herbs and nestle the filled eggs in the greenery. Very fresh eggs are difficult to peel. Buy and refrigerate eggs about seven days in advance of cooking. This allows the eggs to take in air, which helps separate the membranes from the shells.

When I was growing up, our nibbles were most often the cheese straws made by my grandfather, whom I called Dede. Dede was a tall, strapping man who knew the secret of a long, happy marriage to his iron-willed wife. As he put it, his blue eyes twinkling, he always got in the last word: “Yes, beloved.” Dede would layer his cheese straws in a tin lined with sheets of butter-stained waxed paper smelling of sharp cheese and peppery cayenne. Everyone loves these cheese straws—I once caught a party guest stuffing his pockets with them. A cookie press is needed to make these savory crackers. I prefer the version that resembles a caulking gun, although a turn-crank one will do. Some hard-core cheese straw makers invest in the electric version!

Mama found the original of this recipe on the back of a box of Bisquick, a premixed baking product containing flour, shortening, salt, and leavening. According to General Mills, the recipe continues to be one of their most popular. Mama added pecans to the sausage balls, which she served during the holidays and at cocktail parties. I made a few additional changes and developed this “from scratch” version. This recipe works best if you grate the cheese yourself rather than buying it already grated, which is coated to keep the pieces from sticking together. You can add additional cayenne if you like, or use extra hot sausage.

Making this rich, delicious dessert is a no-brainer in the slow cooker. Serve with freshly whipped cream.

The sugar in corn begins to turn to starch as soon as it is picked. So, to get the maximum flavor for your corn pudding, use very fresh corn, preferably picked the same day, or a high-quality frozen product. Serve alongside any kind of grilled meat, especially lamb, or with a simple salad for lunch.

This bread pudding is savory, not sweet. A melding of the delicious southwestern flavors of corn, chiles, coriander, cumin, and cheese, it makes a wonderful side dish to a roasted loin of pork or beef.

Iowa is the country’s largest producer of corn, with more than 12,000 acres planted to the crop and nearly 2 million bushels harvested annually. Sadly, much of it is now genetically modified, so if you want to avoid genetically modified foods, buy organic.

Peanuts reached the American South through a rather circuitous route: Although they were first brought to the United States from Africa in the 1700s, they appear to have originated in South America. The Incas used peanuts in trade, and jars filled with them have been found in ancient Inca graves. This recipe, which may have first come from George Washington Carver’s pot, makes an unusual but surprisingly tasty soup.

Castroville, California (population 6,724 as of the 2000 census), is the self-proclaimed Artichoke Center of the World. About 75 percent of the state’s artichokes are grown there. In 1947, young Norma Jean Baker (later known as Marilyn Monroe) was crowned Castroville’s first “artichoke queen.” And as you might imagine, the local residents have invented a plethora of artichoke-based foods, this creamy soup not the least among them.

The sweet potatoes in this comforting soup need nothing more than traditional Southwestern spices and a topping of jalapeños and toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds).

If you think of crepes as thin pancakes, you will realize how easy they are to make. This recipe flavors the crepe batter with cinnamon and vanilla, resulting in a speckled crepe that goes great with any sweet filling. While I stuff these solely with dulce de leche, feel free to add chopped fresh fruit, such as strawberries, bananas, or mango, to the filling or to add fruit on top.

This is an incredibly flavorful paste that is simply made and keeps almost indefinitely in the refrigerator. It is also easily doubled, so you might as well make extra to rub on meats, chicken, and fish.