Mamma's Buttermilk Biscuits

If you have never had real Southern style biscuits, you have not lived. They are so fluffy and flaky and buttery and delicious not to mention a snap to whip up. These are the best around, and the ultimate in comfort food. When you eat them, you feel warm and cozy inside like yo mamma right there with a hug for you! This recipe was taken from the Raleigh News and observer and then modified by my very own sweet lil' mamma.

2 c self rising flour Lilly White or King Arthur are the best brands.
1 stick salted butter
2/3 c buttermilk


Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter, or if you ghetto like me and don't have one, just use two butter knives in a crisscross cutting motion until well incorporated. Make a well in the center of the flour butter mixture, add the milk and stir it in with a fork.

Sprinkle a clean surface with some flour and knead dough until it is a soft little ball, Awwwwww.

Pat it out with your hands til it is about an inch thick and then cut the biscuits with a small glass cup or biscuit cutter, if you fancy.

Place the biscuits in an ungreased cast iron skillet or on a baking stone for best results and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

TIP: Don't preheat the oven until you have already cut out the biscuits in order to save energy.......my mamma so green!

Bake for 10-15 minutes at 450 degrees or until golden brown.

Serve hot with jam, if you make your own, yay, if not, St. Dalfour is available in most conventional grocery stores and is quite excellent, especially the cranberry with blueberry or the fig. I like my biscuits with jam and sausage patties; the sweet and salty is perfect!

Note: If you want to make your own French style jam, check out Chlotilde's site, zucchini and chocolate. To die for!

You Gonna Suck the Head????

One of the best things about being on the panhandle is the guilt free consumption of the best wild, local shrimp around. Also, so far as I know, the last time you could order barbecue shrimp, cajun style, which has actually nothing to do with barbecue as you know it, was at Pascal Manale's, which never reopened after Katrina. So, if you make this, make sure you buy shrimp with the heads on-and if you can order them Wild American Shrimp certified, even better. This dish be MESSY, and that's alright, actually. Don't even bother trying to be neat about it, and make sure you suck the juices out of the head, cajun style. This goes mighty nice with some succotash on the side. I would say you need about a half a pound per person. The recipe below serves 4. Bon appetit!

In a large cast iron skillet, throw in 1 1/2 sticks of butter, 1 c olive oil, and the juice of 1 lemon or lime; set it to low heat.
Add four cloves of finely minced garlic, 1/2 tsp ground oregano, 1/2 tsp ground basil, 2 tbl crushed rosemary (dried), 1 tbl paprika, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp ground black pepper, four crushed bay leaves. That's your cajun seasoning, if I ever saw it!

Cook the sauce for 7 minutes, bringing it to a boil, then set it aside for 1/2 hour and preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Throw in your whole shrimp until they turn that lovely characteristic red and then put the whole skillet in the oven for 15 minutes to bake.

Serve immediately with white rice with some sauce ladled over the top and enjoy!

French Bread

So easy: Just Do It

There are a few reasons to make your own bread, even if you don't have a nice brick or adobe oven. First of all, in this country good bread is extremely scarce. Second of all, the bread you make yourself, while it may not compare with a fine artisanal loaf from a real bakery, will undoubtedly be much better than practically anything else. So, go for it, and embrace the magic of yeast!

1 and 1/3 c water warmed to approximately 112 degrees farenheit, with a tbl of sugar dissolved. Add one tsp or one package of yeast and stir and let sit until foamy.

In a seperate bowl, 3 c of BREAD FLOUR with 2 tsp of salt mixed well. Add the liquid, knead into a ball by hand and set it, covered with floured plastic wrap and let rise, for as long as you want, even overnight. You can let your dough rise as many times as you want, which is very convenient as sometimes it is difficult to be the domestic goddess you know you are, so you can just punch it down and let it start all over again.

When you are ready, punch the dough down and split into two equal parts. Form them into baguettes and let them rise again, covered with your floured plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm spot (I like to let it rise in the oven, or in my old house in the summer on the terracotta tiles in my garden. Sigh.)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees for 10 minutes then lower the heat to 350 degrees for another 20 minutes and voila!

Here is a photo of the recently formed baguettes, just before I put them in the oven to rise.

Redi Whip is an Affront to Humanity

Yes, it's true. Canned whipped cream represents like few other things the simultaneous laziness and ignorance of the American palate and the decadence of throw away culture.

Why anyone would buy an aerosol can of corn syrupy fluff when it is practically effortless to make your own divine cream toppings is beyond me. If you have a food processor, electric mixer or the like, you really have no excuse. If you don't have modern appliances, but you have a nice strong man around, just bat your lashes and swoon for him so that he whisks it for you by hand.

Here is the oh so foolproof "recipe" for whipped cream.

1/2 pint of heavy whipping cream, preferably organic, dahling
1/4 c powdered sugar or to taste
1/4 tsp vanilla extract or maple syrup

Combine and enjoy! And in the off chance you have a small amount of cream left over save it for your coffee the next day, it's outrageous with a shot of espresso!

My Sister Can't Resist Her

Ah, sisters. It sucked when we were younger because she annoyed the hell outta me and I was a real bitch to her, but now, we are like peas in a pod. No one makes me laugh like Jessica and as I wallowed in the misery of post New Orleans euphoria the other day, scouring my imagination for ways to relocate (Tulane?) I may have just been experiencing the euphoria of being near my little sis.

Jessy left this morning; everyone got up a 4 am to see her off and as soon as she left, I, too felt the need to go. It's just not the same without her around. Alas, perhaps New York and I have a chance to salvage our relationship. I am finally ready to go home. Did I say that I was coming here for the WHOLE summer??????

Gulf Coast Grouper

Coming soon

Fettucine with Ham and Peas

Okay, this is a nice little cream sauce recipe that is simple to whip up and an enormously satisfying winter pasta. Set a pot of salted water to boil for your fettucine-I like the "al dente" brand called wild mushroom fettuccine that Mom and I picked up at Everman's,but I believe it is widely available in natural and upscale markets.

Start with some butter and olive oil in a cast iron skillet and throw in one half a large onion, chopped finely, then cook until translucent.

Add the mushroom of your choice-anything will do, but I think porcini's are especially nice. Cook them down and while you're at it, take out about a cup and a half of frozen peas and get those bad boys defrosted, however you can. Add a cup of heavy cream to the skillet at lowish heat so that it doesn't boil and throw the peas in. Add 1/4 lb of ham cut into strips and just talk to it real sweet like. (:

If you have some cheese lying around your fridge and you don't want to eat it because you can remember how long ago you bought it, but this is conflicting with the inner voice telling you that it doesn't really matter when you eat cheese because it's a freakin fungus anyway, and you can just cut off moldy bits, then throw in the cheese to the sauce mixture because it will be delicious. We have thrown in sharp cheddar cheese that was excellent, but anything will work. If you have no cheese, then that is utterly perfect, because the original recipe calls for no such addition!

Toss the pasta with your sauce, grind some fresh black pepper and some fresh nutmeg on top and serve immediately. A nice little bowl of freshly grated pecorino romano on the table is nice for topping it all off.

Yummy. But make sure you eat a nice salad with this, 'cause it ain't all that good for you! And as for the wine, we paired it with Scenario, a 2003 cabernet sauvingon that was simply lovely!