Sadie and the Super Bowl

The other day was something called the Super Bowl, so that means F-U-D. I helped my ma make a recipe she found on foodnetwork.com for a six layer dip. First, you mix mashed garlic, salt, olive oil, water, pinto beans and black beans in a food processor until smooth. Then you spread it in the bottom of a dish and add some cheese on top of it.

Then smoosh up some avocado and chopped jalapenos and throw that on top:

Chop up some lettuce, scallions and tomatoes:

And then mix some non-fat Greek yogurt with chopped cilantro:

And voila! A layered dip that is delicious with tortilla chips - and no baking required!

Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1(15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups lowfat shredded Cheddar
• 2 ripe avocados, preferably Hass
• 1 jalapeno, stemmed, finely chopped, (with seeds for more heat)
• 2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
• 1 1/2 cups nonfat yogurt, preferably Greek
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, leaves and some stems, roughly chopped, plus more for garnish
• 3 ripe medium tomatoes, diced
• 5 scallions (white and green), thinly sliced
• Baked tortilla chips, for dipping

On a cutting board, smash the garlic cloves, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the salt, and, with the flat side of a large knife, mash and smear the mixture to a coarse paste. Put the garlic, beans, chili powder, water, and olive oil in the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth. Spread in the bottom of a 2 quart casserole or gratin dish, or in individual sized dishes, as desired.

Scatter the cheese over the beans. Halve and seed the avocados, then mash with the jalapeno and another teaspoon of salt in a small bowl. Spread a layer of the avocado over the cheese, and then scatter the lettuce on top.

Mix the yogurt with the cilantro and then spread over the lettuce. Add a layer of tomatoes and finally scatter the scallions on top. Chill until ready to serve. Garnish with a few cilantro sprigs and serve with baked chips.

Choppin' Broccoli

My ma's winter garden has been somewhat lackluster (maybe because I like to laze on top of it?), but one thing that has recently sprouted is the broccoli. Click to enlarge and you can see the little broccoli florets peeking out at you.

Did you know that half a cup of cooked broccoli satisfies 80 percent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recommended daily dose? In addition, it’s a key source of vitamin K, which helps blood clot properly. It was also named one of the 30 healthiest foods by Real Simple magazine.

My ma likes to steam broccoli and dress it with a little lemon juice, but she said next time she is going to try roasting it, like her friend Miss Jenn suggested. Real Simple recommends tossing it with olive oil, garlic, and crushed red pepper and roasting it at 375 degrees until tender. Sounds yummy, even to me!

Sage, Wyoming Style

So a friend of mine, Leah Yetter, has a wonderful blog called Uprooted Magnolia. I highly recommend it. The other day I was reading about her latest adventure in Wheatland, Wyoming, at the Wheatland Farmers Market, where she bought some herbs. She also described an interesting sounding delicacy -- fried sage.

A lightbulb went off. I have an abundance of sage. I mean, sage is practically coming out of my ears.

I picked about 1/100th of this and rinsed it and patted it dry:

Threw it into a frying pan with some olive oil, salt and pepper (per Miss Leah's instructions):

And ended up with this tastiness:

Next time, I think I will cook it until it is all good and crispy. I ended up eating some of this as is and chopping up some to go into a marinara sauce.

Does anyone have any interesting uses or recipes for sage?

Georgia Peach

It is a genetic predisposition, if you will - this obsessive compulsive behavior. Both my mom and aunt have it (homemade marshmallows and possum haw) and I have it, too. My obsession? Peaches. And at the end of peach season, nonetheless. Fortunately, there were some South Carolina peaches available at the Metter exit off of I-16 on Friday.

Half a peck for $6. Not bad. But what to do with all the delicious fruit? Fortunately, Pietro and I took a cooking class several weeks ago at Kitchenware Outfitters that was all about peaches. (That OCD thang again.)

First up: peach salsa. This is a good one.

2 c. washed, pitted and diced yellow freestone peaches
1/2 c. diced red onion
1/2 c. diced red bell pepper
1 small green hot pepper, minced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
Freshly grated zest of one lime
2 T. red wine vinegar
2 T. freshly-squeezed lime juice
1 t. ground cumin
Salt
2 T. chopped fresh mint

The end product?

This can be served with peach-glazed pork tenderloins. First, peel and remove the pits of 4 to 5 peaches:

Make a puree with ground ginger, soy sauce, garlic, lemon juice, onion:

Marinate over pork tenderloins anywhere from three hours to overnight:

Grill on high heat to an internal temp of 145 and boo-yah:

Until next season, dear peaches...

Mama's Pound Cake

There are a few tastes that immediately make me think of my Mama: homemade spaghetti, chicken n' dumplins and pound cake. Fortunately for me, my mom hand wrote all of my favorite recipes in a recipe book a few years ago for my birthday. It was a present I will always cherish.

Last weekend we wanted something sweet to eat, and decided to try an angel food recipe from Martha Stewart. Now, maybe my skills left something to be desired or maybe Martha's minions did not transcribe the recipe just so, but the results were terrible. So this weekend I decided to bake my mom's pound cake recipe. It's never failed me, and it didn't disappoint today.

One addition to the pound cake - a white lemon icing. Two cups confectioner's sugar with lemon juice and lemon zest. You can use any kind of citrus you like - I bet orange would be wonderful, too.

So, if you're looking for the "Best Ever Pound Cake" recipe, look no further. Here it is:

3 c. sugar
1/2 c. Crisco
1 c. butter (room temp)
5 eggs (room temp)
3 c. cake flour
1 c. milk (room temp)
1 t. vanilla

Do not pre-heat oven. Cream sugar, shortening and butter. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add flour, flavoring and milk and beat until creamy. Alternate flour and milk. Bake in greased and floured pan at 325 degrees for one hour. Increase heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 30 minutes.

Spicy Shrimp on a Summer's Evening

Yesterday was a good day since it was Savannah Food Co-Op Pickup Day. One of the additional items I ordered was locally-caught Wild Georgia Shrimp, from Dubberley's Seafood. The shrimp are flash frozen on the boat and are as good as fresh when thawed. They arrived ready to cook, peeled and de-veined. I didn't waste any time threading these suckers onto a skewer.

And then I whipped up a marinade made of lime juice and zest, sugar, salt, fish sauce and Asian chili paste:


After about a three-minute grilling, we had this:

And this:

Sorry, no leftovers. But if you want to recreate this spicy deliciousness at home, you can.

For the Sauce
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. finely grated lime zest, plus 1/4 c. fresh lime juice
1 T. Asian chili paste
1 T. Asian fish sauce

For the Shrimp:
Safflower oil, for brushing (I used canola)
36 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Coarse salt

1. Soak 12 wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes to prevent charring.
2. Meanwhile, make the sauce by bringing sugar and lime juice to a simmer in a small saucepan. Cook until sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lime zest, fish sauce and chili paste. Season with salt.
3. Make the shrimp: heat grill to high and brush grates with oil. Thread 3 shrimp onto each skewer; season with salt. Divide sauce in half; reserve half for serving. Grill shrimp for 1 minute; brush with sauce. Flip and grill for 1 more minute, brush with sauce again. Flip and grill, brushing occasionally with sauce, until opaque, 1 to 3 minutes more. Serve with reserved sauce.