Tag Archives: cornmeal

Recipes - Breads & Biscuits

Pimento Cheese Biscuits

Geeze Louise, I meant to make and blog about these biscuits yesterday in honor of the Kentucky Derby but my “just do 3 hours of work in the yard” turned in to “it’s 5:30 and I haven’t made biscuits yet!” Determined to make up for the neglect yesterday, I baked these before I went out to the yard this afternoon. You might be tickled to find these tasty little treats on a Kentucky Derby buffet next year, even your own buffet table if you plan on hosting a Derby party (and what could be more fun?).

The recipe comes from a blog I enjoy reading, “Syrup & Biscuits” and though I followed the recipe exactly, I did not have 12 biscuits to bake after I was finished, only 7 biscuits.  Next time I will add more flour as I work the dough.  Today I also used a fresh jalapeno pepper, not a pickled one, and that was fine. I haven’t tasted these yet but they will be greatly enjoyed with my supper I know.  If you get 12 biscuits they will make a great appetizer for your Derby party or as a special side dish with a simple supper as I have planned.

The dough is very sticky so you will need to add enough flour for it to become smooth and elastic as you work with it.  I can imagine adding at least 1/2 cup additional flour as you roll it out.  I love the look of these with the cheese topping and the jalapeño slices.  The jalapeño gives just enough warmth to these pretty puffs and the pimento cheese is a great surprise when you bite into them.  Go on, put on your Derby hat, think about a cool mint julep, and have a Run for the Roses yourself!!

Ingredients

¾ cup soft winter wheat all-purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup plain cornmeal
¼ cup unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
½ cup buttermilk
½ to ¾ cups pimento cheese
15 pickled jalapeño pepper slices

Directions: Place flour, baking powder, kosher salt and cornmeal in a bowl and stir lightly. Rub or cut in butter until flour resembles coarse meal.  Pour in buttermilk and stir until dough is wet and sticky. Turn out onto a well-floured surface. Sprinkle flour on top. Gently work in the flour, adding more as needed, until the dough is no longer sticky and holds its shape.  Roll out to ½ inch thick. Cut with a 2 inch biscuit cutter dipped in flour. With the back of your hand, flatten out the cut out biscuit as much as possible.

Spray a mini-muffin pan with non-stick spray. Place about a teaspoon of pimento cheese in the center of the biscuit cut out. Press the edges of the cut out toward the center to form a flower shape. Place the biscuit in a mini-muffin cup and top with a pickled jalapeño slice. Repeat with each biscuit cut out.  Place in a 450 degree oven for 12 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly brown and the biscuit is done.  Remove from oven and transfer each biscuit to a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Best served warm.

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Recipes - Side Dishes

Southern Spoon Bread

cold, with syrup
cold, with syrup

Southern Spoonbread was a practical, and tempting, choice for supper tonight after spending the better part of the day cleaning and organizing the pantry. This simple dish, easily prepared any time with ingredients normally on hand, makes a fine side dish at any meal. Eaten warm, just out of the oven, it is best described as a spoonable cornbread pudding. The center is creamy with a top that browns and thickens enough to give texture.  Eaten cold, as a midnight snack, drizzled with maple syrup, the texture had firmed and it tasted a little like bread pudding.  With only a teaspoon of sugar, the dish is  not overly sweet, but it is rich with eggs and cornmeal.

There are dozens of versions of this classic Southern recipe and today I modified the one I normally use because I didn’t have corn meal other than the self-rising variety and that wouldn’t do for this dish. I used boxed Jiffy Mix as a substitute, and though the souffle was not as dry as when using plain white corn meal, the texture was still satisfying. The top will crack as the souffle bakes and that is fine. The hardest thing about making this is resisting the urge to eat it right out of the pan. I managed to do so only by walking out of the kitchen and occupying myself elsewhere for 15 minutes. This is comfort food at its Southern finest.

Do beat your egg whites separately and until they are stiff and firm and fold them into the batter gently to lighten it. This could easily be baked in a 2-qt. souffle dish also.

Ingredients

5 T. unsalted butter, softened
4 cups milk
1 cup fine-ground white or yellow cornmeal
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. sugar
4 eggs, separated
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

Directions Preheat the oven to 400. Butter a 1-1/2 quart soufflé dish with 2 T. of the softened butter; set aside. In a large saucepan, heat milk until just below boiling. Slowly whisk in cornmeal; bring to boiling. Cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat for about five minutes or until the mixture thickens and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat; transfer to a large mixing bowl. Cool 10 minutes. Whisk in the remaining 3 T. butter, salt, and sugar. Beat in egg yolks until well blended.

In a separate large mixing bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar with a clean large whisk until they form soft glossy mounds. Stir one-third of the beaten egg whites into the cornmeal mixture to lighten. Gently fold in remaining egg whites. Gently turn into prepared soufflé dish; the batter will nearly fill the dish. Bake 30 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Cool five minutes at least before serving.

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