Kentucky Derby Pie {Recipe}

I'm not sure I ever watched the Kentucky Derby as a child. I certainly have no memories of it.

The horse race came into my life through Alex's grandmother. She wasn't a huge racing fan but she always watched the Derby. Towards the end of her life, when she was living in Columbus near us, we spent several spring Saturdays cheering on riders together.

Though Gram is no longer alive, we continue the tradition of watching colorful jockeys every Derby Day. We drink mint juleps with fresh mint from the backyard and usually throw in a few other culinary nods to Ohio's southern border state.

Last year I wanted to create a Kentucky Derby pie. I had tasted one before that a long lost friend made. Searching the internet revealed a variety of pies, most containing corn syrup or other evils. I imagined I could do better with natural ingredients.

Experimenting resulted in a dense, walnut studded pie with dark chocolate, one I will make again this Saturday. The one-bowl pie is easy to bake up for Derby Day or any time.

Kentucky Derby Pie Serves 12 Time: 1 hour

1 pie crust, unbaked 1/2 cup flour 1 cup sugar 2 eggs, beaten 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly 3 ounces bourbon 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup dark chocolate pieces or bar, chopped 1 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. 2. Line 9 or 10 inch pie plate with unbaked pie crust and form edges. 3. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, eggs, butter, bourbon, vanilla, and salt. 4. Stir in chocolate and walnuts until they are well incorporated. 5. Pour filling into prepared pie crust. 6. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the filling comes out clean. 7. Allow to cool slightly before cutting.

Spring Chimichurri With Boiled Eggs On Grilled Asparagus {Recipe}

Nothing says spring like firing up the grill, eating local asparagus, enjoying herbs from the garden, and reveling in the wonder of the egg. Combine them all in this grilled asparagus chimichurri recipe and the season bursts forth from your fork.

Chimichurri is an Argentinian herb sauce typically made with chopped fresh parsley, oregano, garlic, vinegar, and olive oil. Like Italian pesto, chimichurri is flexible to your personal taste. Substitute any and all fresh herbs popping up in your garden or at the farmer's market.

Traditionally, chimichurri tops grilled steak and is indeed a tasty light counterpoint to rich meat. Drawing on a fantastic appetizer prepared by Jim Budros, Steve Stover, and Rich Terapak at a Franklin Park Conservatory cooking class, we pour chimichurri over grilled asparagus. The herbal garlic sauce highlights the sweetness of the crisped asparagus. Full-bodied chopped boiled egg completes the dish.

Serve chimichurri asparagus with a bread salad for lunch, as a side for dinner or as an appetizer over toast points. We might make it to share with family this Easter Sunday.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:2]

Added to Hearth and Soul.

Quick Three Dish Cornbread Breakthrough

One of the little games I play in the kitchen is to challenge myself to minimize the number of dishes I use. I also like to prepare recipes in the fewest steps possible.

Last week, I reworked my regular cornbread routine to lose one dish, one step, and several minutes of cooking time. I was overjoyed. Truthfully, I was probably too excited by what amounts to a few minutes of time savings. But hey, I have to get my kicks somehow when making meal after meal.

The Breakthrough

The cornbread I make requires melted butter. I usually butter the dish by hand, melt butter in a tiny pan over the stove, add to a liquid measuring cup, and go from there.

This time I melted the butter in our 12 inch sloped sided Lodge cast iron skillet, aka the best pan ever. With the heat off, I poured butter into the liquid ingredients. While I stirred the liquids into the dry ingredients, the oven preheated. I poured the batter into the still-hot pan, placed it in the oven and 22 minutes later pulled out crisp-edged cornbread.

I always think I am a culinary genius when I come up with a breakthrough like this. But then I realize that a real genius would have been preparing the recipe this way all along!

Fast, Simple Cornbread

slightly adapted from Betty Crocker's sweet country cornbread Makes: 8 large wedges Time: 30 minutes

1/4 cup unsalted butter 1 cup milk or 1 1/4 cup cultured buttermilk 1 egg 1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal (I love local Shagbark farm cornmeal) 1 cup white whole wheat flour 2 tablespoons sugar 3 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 2. Place a 12 inch sloped sided cast iron skillet over medium heat. 2. Add the butter and melt it without burning. 3. Meanwhile, measure milk into a graduated liquid measuring cup and stir in an egg. 4. Turn off the heat. Pour the butter into the milk (it will clump a little and that's ok). 5. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together cornmeal, flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. 6. Pour the batter into the still-hot pan and immediately transfer to the preheated oven. 7. Bake until the edges and top are browned. Remove from the oven, cut into wedges, and serve warm with honey or butter.

Petite Roasted Parsnip Fries {Recipe}

Do you ever prepare a tired ingredient in a new way? The other day we cooked Ohio bison burgers and wanted a 'fry' without potatoes. Riffing off the roasted root vegetables on Lil's plate at Senate, Alex cut up some parsnips into very thin wedges. He arranged them in a single layer on a cookie sheet at roasted them with a thin cover of olive oil, salt and pepper.

My what a wonderous accompaniment! Parsnips roasted in this way are only slightly sweet and full of earthy anise flavor. The fries are crispy on the outside with a bit of bite still in the center. They compliment a rich burger like potato fries cannot.

This recreation of a common root vegetable makes me think a little harder about parsnips. I haven't explored them fully. Perhaps 2012 will be the year of the parsnip.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:11]

Presidential Hoecakes {Recipe}

It's President's Day on Monday and you know what that means, right?

Hoecakes!

No?

According to the Mount Vernon website, hoecakes were George Washington's standard breakfast. I figured this meant I should experiment with hoecakes for President's Day.

The site also shares a recipe. Unfortunately it is sized for a huge crowd and sounds a little funky.

Taking inspiration from Mount Vernon, I reworked the recipe and portions to fit my family's taste. I added a little wheat flour to give more body to the pancakes. Before cooking, I stirred in an egg for lift and richness.

The hoecake batter ferments overnight, giving a slight tang to the final pancake. The taste harkens of cornmeal mush, a rustic breakfast starch my father and I love fried.

This recipe is so simple that it only really requires three things: very fresh cornmeal (I like Carriage Hill delivered by Green B.E.A.N.), time to ferment, and sweetener. Berries, maple syrup, and molasses are all great toppings. I prefer local honey.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:9]

Added to Simple Lives Thursday 83.

Handmade Chocolate Truffles {Recipe}

Chocolate is a classic Valentine's gift. It's a special decadent treat that nearly everyone loves. But there are problems with modern chocolate manufacturing: it often exploits the land and native peoples. Also, many big name companies use artifical flavorings and additives.

Treat your love like a king or queen and seek out fair trade, all-natural chocolate from an honest manufacturer. We like Dagoba, Equal Exchange, and Theo brands.

For an extra special gift, consider hand rolling truffles. This recipe is simple to put together and can be customized to a wide variety of tastes by changing the liquid flavoring and outer coating.

Lil and a friend made these truffles for holiday gifts. Their versions more closely resembled truffle mushrooms than a candy store confection, but they tasted fantastically gourmet.  If distractable kindergarteners can make these, you can too.

Hand rolled Chocolate Truffles Makes: approximate 30 Time: 45 minutes

12 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate 6 ounces milk chocolate 1/2 cup heavy cream Assorted toppings: powdered sugar, cocoa powder, chopped nuts, coconut, chopped candy

1. Chop chocolate finely. Transfer to a microwave-proof bowl. 2. Heat heavy cream to simmering. Pour over chocolate. Stir to mix well and melt. 3. If needed, heat chocolate for thirty seconds in the microwave. Stir well. If chocolate is still not fully melted, continue heating and stirring. 4. Chill mixture in refrigerator for approximately 15 minutes or until it is cool enough to handle. 5. Shape tablespoon-sized portions into balls. Roll in toppings until covered. Place on a sheet tray or in paper liners. 6. Chill in the refrigerator until serving.

Added to Hearth and Soul blog hop 2/7.

Sorta Scones {Recipe}

The urge to make scones hit me in early January. I wanted a perfect-for-me scone: not greasy, not overly sweet, full of whole ingredients, and easy to pull together in the morning before breakfast. I made many batches of scones and finally came up with this recipe.

Alas, Alex doesn't think they are scones. He says they are more like muffins without the shape or biscuits without the fluff. Out the other side of his scone-crumbed mouth he admits that it doesn't matter what I call them so long as I keep making them. Done and done!

These scones are a breakfast or tea time treat. Lil likes them with chocolate, so I use fair trade dark chips, the healthiest chocolate choice. With whole wheat flour, buttermilk, and less fat than most recipes, enjoy my real food interpretation of scones.

Sorta Scones

Makes: 6 Time: 30 minutes 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour 1 cup white whole wheat flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 cup cultured buttermilk 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup chopped dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips or a combination thereof

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. 2. Mix flours, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon in a medium mixing bowl. 3. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in butter until mix resembles fine meal. 4. In a liquid measuring cup, measure buttermilk. Add egg and beat lightly with a fork. Pour vanilla into this liquid measure. 5. Mix together liquids into flours, stirring just until mixed. Add dried fruit, nuts, or chips and stir to distribute evenly. Do not over mix. 6. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Dough will be sticky but use floured hands to gently form into a round. 7. Cut round into six equal triangles. Place each on a silicone- or parchment-lined baking sheet. 8. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until browned on top. Serve warm.

Added to Simple Lives Thursday.

Meyer Lemon Marmalade {Recipe}

When I finished making candied Meyer lemons, I couldn't toss the remaining syrup. Lightly lemon flavored, I tried stirring it into a cocktail but it was too thick. Jam-like already, all signs pointed to marmalade. I chopped ten Meyer lemons from my surprise windfall from Green B.E.A.N. into tiny bits, carefully removing the central membrane and seeds. I simmered them with the syrup, water, and seeds in a cheesecloth bundle until the rind softened and the jam set up. I felt like the marmalade lacked sweetness and added vanilla bean plus a bit more sugar to smooth out that side of the flavor profile.

The resulting trio of quarter pints, plus a nearly full quarter pint in the fridge, represent my first home-canned goods of 2012. It feels great to be putting up again, though I bet these jars will vanish before I complete another canning project!

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:5]

Added to Simple Lives Thursday 78.