Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

There has been a lot going on at Lake Lure.  This weekend is the second annual Dirty Dancing celebration.  You can read about the history of the connection here.  Our friends from Florida are here because they are part of a doo wop and oldies group that will be performing at Rumbling Bald Resort on Friday night and on the top of our boathouse on Sunday evening.

I haven’t been doing much cooking, but here is one of Ina Garten’s recipes for blueberry muffins that is perfect for feeding a crowd.  I will be back to blogging more regularly next week.

BLUEBERRY COFFEE CAKE MUFFINS (Barefoot Contessa Family Style)

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 ounces sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 half-pints fresh blueberries, picked through for stems

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place 16 paper liners in muffin pans.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla, sour cream, and milk.  In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  With the mixer on low speed add the flour mixture to the batter and beat until just mixed.  Fold in the blueberries with a spatula and be sure the batter is completely mixed.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling each cup just over the top, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the muffins are lightly browned on top and a cake tester comes out clean. 

When dinner is leftover chicken or some other “ho hum” entree, try making these potatoes anna as a side dish.  It is a dish that will become the star of the meal.  I have been trying to clear the refrigerator of all of the holiday food and the last of it was leftover grilled chicken.  I was not excited to eat it once again.  I needed something on the plate to get excited about. 

I have this perfectly lovely mandolin that David paid a perfectly lovely price for and I can’t bring myself to use it.  I have a fear of sharp blades.  The fear was exacerbated by the fact that David sliced off the tip of his finger using it for the first time.  But I got it into my head to make pommes anna with really thin potato slices.  I scrounged around in the deep recesses of the corner cabinet and brought out the mandolin.  Then I enlisted David to do the actual slicing with dire warnings about keeping his fingers away from the blade.  He did a great job and I ended up with paper thin rounds of potatoes. 

Pommes Anna are nothing more than thin potato rounds sauteed in butter with a little salt and pepper.  The potatoes are artfully arranged in a saute pan for the first layer, which will be the top when it is done.  More potatoes and butter are added to form more layers.  It can be flipped in the pan to finish the second side or, after being flipped, placed in the oven to finish cooking.  I used only two potatoes forming two layers so I cooked it all on the stove top.

Pommes Anna was created by Chef Adolphe Duglere at Cafe Anglais in Paris during the reign of Napoleon Boneparte.  Cafe Anglais was popular with the aristocracy and courtesans of the time.  It was purported to be named for one of the grandes cocottes of that era, actress Anna Damiens.

POMMES ANNA

2 to 4 Yukon Gold Potatoes
2 to 4 Tablespoons melted butter
Salt and Pepper to taste

Slice potatoes 1/16th to 1/8 inch thick, preferably on a mandolin.  You want paper thin slices.  Add a tablespoon of melted butter to a nonstick ovenproof skillet.  Arrange potatoes in a circular pattern overlapping slightly until pan is covered.  Drizzle with a little butter and salt and pepper and continue layering until all potato slices are in the pan.  Cook over medium heat until bottom potatoes are browned.  Place a large plate over pan and flip potato cake onto plate.  Return inverted potato cake to pan to cook on the second side.  If you have several layers you may want to finish the cooking in a 400 degree oven.

Place potato cake on a serving platter and cut into wedges to serve.

Printable recipe

It was the best of times.  There is nothing like spending a long weekend with the family enjoying the end of summer on the lake.  We had cookouts, a birthday to celebrate, a wine tasting and some firsts.  Unfortunately I took very few pictures of the food but will share some of the images from the weekend.

Granddaughter Rachel has been taking swimming lessons and this was the first year that she jumped into the water from the dock.

It was Grandson Cameron’s first visit to Lake Lure.

  

Uncle Jeff got a chance to wakeboard.

We had a blind wine tasting of Pinot Noir wines from California.  The unanimous winner was a Hendry Vineyard Napa Valley Pinot Noir 2008.  Thank you Dave A. for always bringing a case of Hendry wines to the holiday get together.

The kids had their own blind fruit juice tasting.  The winner was Simply Lemonade.

David smoked two pork butts for our pulled pork dinner.  It was better than any barbecue restaurant in North Carolina.  He made a ketchup based sauce and a vinegar based sauce.

My friend Lyla suggested I try Trisha Yearwood’s recipe for Crockpot Macaroni and Cheese.  In the interest of keeping it real here, I have to tell you that this is not my picture.  I did not remember to take a picture.  The picture came from this site.  The adults absolutely loved the mac and cheese and it was easy to put together.  The kids liked it, but did not love it.  It has something to do with that little box of powdered cheese, if you know what I mean.

We also celebrated our DIL Kristen’s birthday.  I made a Lemon Layer Cake with Raspberry Curd.  I made the cake layers and the raspberry curd ahead of time and frosted the cake on the day that we served it.  The cake layers are split in half and the raspberry curd is spread between the layers.

The raspberry curd  filling was delicious.  The recipe came from a book called Luscious Berry Desserts by Lori Longbotham.  Here it is.

LEMON LAYER CAKE WITH RASPBERRY CURD

Cake:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup whole milk
5 large egg whites, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Raspberry Curd:
1 stick unsalted butter
12 ounce package frozen raspberries, thawed
5 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
pinch salt
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 tablespoons lemon zest
3 1/2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Curd Directions:
Melt butter over medium heat.
Add raspberries, yolks, sugar, and salt. Mash raspberries. Cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
Pour through a strainer, pressing to extract as much as possible.
Cool to room temperature then stir in lemon juice. Chill.

Cake Directions:
Heat oven to 350. Prepare two 8×2 round cake pans. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Pulse 1/4 cup of the sugar with lemon zest in food processor until finely ground.
Beat butter and zest mixture with electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add remaining sugar and beat until smooth.
Add 1/4 cup milk and beat until just blended. Reduce speed to low and alternately add flour and milk in 3 batches. Beat only until blended, no longer.
Beat egg whites in a large bowl until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat to stiff peaks.
Fold the egg whites into the batter carefully.
Divide batter between the two pans and bake about 35 minutes.
Cool 10 minutes in pan then remove and cool completely.

Frosting Directions:

Beat butter and zest until fluffy.
Gradually add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
Add lemon juice and beat for one minute.

Assembly:

Cut each cake into two layers.
Spread curd in between layers, leaving about a 1/2 inch border.
Spread frosting on sides and top

Printable recipe

OK.  There is a story here.  My Mother was an artist.  She never had any formal training, but her talent was evident from an early age.  I remember as a child loving the smell of linseed oil and the vibrant paint colors on her palette.  She was a typical housewife of the 50’s, but there was never anything typical about her.  She was a joyful person who loved her husband and her two beautiful (excuse the narcissism) children.  But there was always her talent that she could not hide even if she wanted to.  Her art teacher in high school  encouraged her to attend college and hone her exceptional skills.  But she had fallen in love with my Father who was a brave Marine during WW II.  Their life together was one of the most beautiful love stories that I have ever witnessed.  She was happy.  But she was also creative.  Imagine Van Gogh’s painting of Starry Starry Night.  That is what I thought of when I made this cake which is very similar to something my Mother used to make.

My Mother embraced all styles of art but her talent was in realism.  She painted what she saw and wanted it to look as realistic as possible.  I have never seen anyone with a more precise eye to detail than my Mother.  Because I have four of her paintings I can marvel at her brushstrokes and the way she made flat canvases come alive with images.  Her portraits are amazing.   Here are three that are in our living room.  In the case of Andrew Jackson she copied the portrait by Thomas Sully.  I always wondered why she had never completed it, but this was the way Sully had left it.  It is also the image that is on the twenty dollar bill.

The only one of her paintings that I don’t have, that I would love to have, belongs to my Brother Bill.  He has her Hemingway.  It is, in my opinion, a masterpiece and I applaud Bill for grabbing it first.  “Right!”

Mom was also a talented cook.  What I am today I credit to her example.  She cooked food, as she painted, with both creativity and love.  My SIL Barb recently sent me this recipe for chocolate cake.  Barb said  “Do you remember your Mom’s Blackbottom Cupcakes?  This is a cake recipe that is very similar.”  It is a recipe that I’m sure you can find on the internet as a Blackbottom Cake, but I choose to call it Starry Starry Night Cake in honor of my Mom.  She would have appreciated it’s beauty and loved it.

STARRY STARRY NIGHT CHOCOLATE CAKE

1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. water
1/3 c. oil
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla

FILLING:

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 c. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1 c. chocolate chips

Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, soda and salt. Add water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Pour into 9×13 inch greased and floured pan. Combine cream cheese, egg, salt, sugar and chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto batter in pan. Swirl knife through batter to create a ribbon effect.  Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and confectioners’ sugar if desired.  Mom would have sprinkled it with plain sugar.
 
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I will see you after the holiday weekend.  We have lots of family visiting.  Have a fun and safe holiday.  More recipes are coming from our cookout.

I have been running fast this week in preparation for the annual family Labor Day Weekend at the lake.  There were bed linens to wash, beds to be made, the refrigerator cleaned, floors moped and an extra table added to the porch so that we can seat fourteen.  I have been doing prep work in the kitchen; things that can be done ahead of time like making glazed pecans for salads, blueberry muffins baked and in the freezer, lemon cake layers made and a raspberry curd whipped up for a special birthday cake. There has been little time to think about what’s for dinner.

I have two special friends in Michigan who have come to the rescue with ideas on crowd friendly recipes.  My childhood friend Lyla has emailed me several recipes which I will blog about soon.  Also my SIL Barb has sent along some recipes.  One of the recipes she emailed me was from her friend Linda who is a great cook and is thinking about starting a blog.  It is a recipe for chicken teriyaki that is done in a slow cooker.   That is just what I needed yesterday when there was no time to cook.

The smell of the soy infused chicken cooking away while I was making beds and vacuuming was like heaven to my senses.  I love it when dinner can cook itself and I need to remember to use my crock pot more often.  The results were outstanding.  The chicken thighs were meltingly tender and the sauce was delicious over plain white rice.  If all of Linda’s recipes are this good, I will become an avid follower of her food blog.  Thanks Barb for passing the recipe along.

Now here’s a dirty little confession.  I couldn’t sleep last night and got up at 4:00 AM and all I could think about was that chicken.  I quietly got out of bed and went to the kitchen, scooped out some of the leftovers, microwaved them and enjoyed a bowl while reading my current novel.  It was so good.  Think I’ll skip breakfast this morning.

CROCK POT TERIYAKI CHICKEN

12 boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 3 pounds)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
6 tablespoons cider vinegar
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 1/2 teaspoons cold water
Hot cooked long grain rice

Place chicken in a 4 qt. slow cooker.  In a large bowl, combine the sugar, soy sauce, cider vinegar, ginger, garlic and pepper.  Pour over chicken.  Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours or until chicken is tender.  Remove chicken to a serving platter; keep warm.  Skim fat from cooking liquid.  Place liquid in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Combine cornstarch and water until smooth.  Gradually stir into liquid and stir until sauce is thickend.  Serve with chicken and rice.

Note:  I halved the recipe and it still worked fine in my crock pot.  It might not need the full 4 hours time.

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