Cornbread

I grew up having both white cornbread with no sugar and yellow cornbread with sugar. While most Southerners I know are adamantly for one and against the other, my parents are from different parts of the South and served both at the table together. Tonight for the first time I made the non sweet version from scratch. The cornmeal I found in the bulk section of Whole Foods wasn’t great; it made the bread a tad gritty. But the flavor was good, and the cast iron allowed the bread to cook perfectly.

A Simple Southern Dinner

Baked yam with fried green tomatoes and onions.

Roasted Chicken & Vegetables

I recently purchased a Lodge enameled cast iron dutch oven and decided to break it in with my first try at roasted chicken. I mixed salt, minced garlic, thyme and fresh rosemary with 4 tablespoons of butter and rubbed half of it on the chicken and under the skin. The other half I reserved in the refrigerator.

I added vegetable oil to the dutch oven and browned the chicken for ten minutes skin side down. After that I added chopped onions, potatoes and carrots and put the dutch oven, covered, into a 350 degree oven. After 25 minutes, I turned over the chicken and covered it with the reserved herb butter before cooking it for a final 20 minutes.

Delicious.

Roasted Potatoes and Onion with Bacon

Roasted potatoes with onions is one of the first dishes I learned to cook as a kid. It couldn’t be easier; put potatoes, onions and whole garlic cloves in an aluminum foil packet along with butter, salt & pepper and spices to taste. Cook in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. I cooked the organic bacon separately on a cast iron skillet until crispy. This is a go to dinner when I’m broke and the cupboard is almost bare.

Another Scrumptious Breakfast

Eggs scrambled with cream cheese and tomatoes, Edith’s whole wheat bread from the Heart of the City farmers market with fresh market butter, organic breakfast sausages, and home fries made of market potatoes and cooked in my beloved cast iron skillet.

Egg Sandwich

Scrambled egg sandwich on jalapeño cheddar focaccia with Thai sriracha and sauteed sausage and baby onions.

Campari Sour

Saturday night I had a Campari sour at my neighborhood bar, and it immediately became my new favorite drink. The recipe is simple, although it does require your bar to stock 100% egg whites. Egg whites in classic cocktails contribute a velvety texture and thick, frothy foam.

Campari Sour

1 1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz Lemon juice
2 tsp Granulated sugar (or simple syrup)
1 tbsp egg white

Shake all ingredients with ice until frothy and cold. Strain into cocktail glass. Serve with a lemon twist. Easy!

One can substitute almost any kind of alcohol for Campari, the more common being whiskey, gin or amaretto.

Bratwurst and Onions

I was lucky enough to score some delicious Bratwurst from a local German restaurant on Christmas. The next day I boiled it in two bottles of Blue Moon beer and a tablespoon of butter before browning it with onions in butter in my cast iron skillet.

Goat Cheese Pizza

A simple lunch of pizza with goat cheese, onions, roasted pepper, crushed tomatoes, and chili peppers.

Tequila Sunfire

I wanted to make a more sophisticated version of the Tequila Sunrise, and the first thing to go was the syrupy sweet Grenadine. I replaced the maraschino cherry syrup with Luxardo, a liqueur made from the more bitter cherry seeds. To add a spicy kick I rimmed the glass with cayenne sugar.

Tequila Sunfire
1 1/2 oz tequila
1 cap full Luxardo
1 1/2 oz Fresh Orange Juice
juice of 1/2 lime

Shake all ingredients thoroughly with ice and strain into cayenne sugar rimmed cocktail glass.

Cayenne Sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp cayenne (adjust to taste)
1 tsp salt

Grind all ingredients together with mortal and pestle or shake in a closed container. Wet outside rim of glass with a lime slice and dip into sugar mixture, making sure not to get sugar inside of the glass.