Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

While still in Florida, we had a family get together at my nephew Paul’s home.  My Brother grilled shrimp, pork tenderloins and these moist and delicious chicken legs.  Bill is a grilling genius and is pretty particular about the way things should be done.  He cooks only on a charcoal grill and doesn’t think much of gas grills.  He has been making these chicken legs for years.  He said they were my Dad’s favorite.  I can believe it.  He has a secret ingredient and I am now sharing it with the world. . . . . . or at least the small part of the world that comprises those who follow my blog.  Drum roll please.

It is Wish Bone’s Western salad dressing.  I have never looked for this dressing before, so I don’t know if it is in my grocery store or not.  Is it in yours?  I will look the next time I am shopping.  Whatever is in it gave the chicken the most wonderful flavor.  There was not a single chicken leg left on the plate at the end of the meal.  Granted there were kids galore coming and going in their bathing suits, but what better pick-up-and-go kind of food could you find.

As far as a recipe, I can’t be precise.  Season the chicken legs with salt, pepper, garlic powder and any other seasoning that you like.  Bill said to cook the chicken legs for about 45 minutes on a charcoal grill turning occasionally,  Brush on the salad dressing and cook turn and baste for another 15 minutes or so.

This was the rest of the spread.  Everything was delicious.  Barb made her famous potatoes which I blogged about here.  Thank you Paul and Michelle for a great meal and even better company.

Spring has been slow in arriving to the North Carolina mountains.  Last year when we returned from Florida, the dogwoods were in full bloom.  This year they are just beginning to show their colors.  It has been rainy and dreary all week.

My Brother and SIL followed us back and spent a day with us before heading home to Michigan.  Barb is an antique’s dealer so we spent the day shopping in my favorite haunts.  The Screen Door in Asheville was a treasure trove for her.  While she was busy loading up on goodies I spent some time in their wonderful bookstore. They have a huge selection of books relating to cooking, gardening, and interior design and they are all around half price.  The sale rack is even better.  This is what I came home with, along with a Mark Bittman book.

The Lady in the Palazzo; At Home in Umbria by Marlena De Blasi  is the story of an American chef, Marlena, and her Italian husband looking for and finding a home in Orvieto in the Umbrian region of Italy.  It is full of tantalizing descriptions of food, scenery and evocative characters.  It also includes recipes.

Marlena De Blasi’s description of this walnut focaccia bread was enough for me to run to the store for walnuts.  Imagine eating chunks of this bread with warm honey dribbled over it and sliced pears on the side while sitting before a roaring fire on a cold day.  That’s what I am doing right now.

WALNUT FOCACCIA

Note: I halved this recipe and did the first mixing, kneading and rise in my bread machine, adding the walnuts after the first 30 minutes.  I hit pause and removed the dough and worked them in.

2 1/2 cups tepid water
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
1 1/2 tablespoons fine sea salt
6 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup stone-ground whole wheat flour
1 cup white or yellow cornmeal
additional water, if necessary
2 cups walnuts, lightly toasted and lightly crushed
sea salt

Place 1/3 cup of the tepid water into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle or crumble in the yeast.  Stir to dissolve and let stand for five minutes.

Meanwhile mix together 6 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 cups of tepid water, and the fine sea salt.  Add the liquids to the yeast, add the three flours, all at once, and stir to form a rough mass.  Turn the mass out onto a lightly floured work surface and begin to knead.  If the mass seems dry, sprinkle over a few drops of additional water at a time until the mass is workable.  Continue to knead the mass until a soft, satiny, and elastic dough is achieved; flatten the dough into a rough rectangle and sprinkle over the walnuts.  Work the nuts into the dough and reshape it into a rough ball.  Set the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set it to rise in a warm, draft-free place. 

Allow rise until the mass is doubled.  This might take as long as two hours.  Deflate the dough and cut it into three pieces, shaping each one into a flat round.  Place the rounds onto oiled baking sheets which have been lightly sprinkled with cornmeal; cover with kitchen towels and allow to rise for half an hour.

Press your knuckles or fingers into the dough, creating lovely little pockets which will eventually hold oil and salt.  Cover the rounds once again and let them sit for the last rise, about an hour.  Now sprinkle or grind sea salt over the breads.  Do this generously.  Drizzle them with olive oil, hitting the pockets when you can, and bake in a preheated 375 degree F. oven for 20 to 25 minutes or longer, until the are puffed and nicel golden.  Transfer immediately to racks to cool slightly before serving.  These can be successfully reheated in a lively oven for a very few minutes.

Printable recipe

I’ve packed my pots and pans, my Cuisinart and my Kitchen Aid.  I will see you back in my Lake Lure kitchen some time next week with lots of new recipes and thoughts on cooking, eating and living.  I may even offer tips on simplifying and getting rid of clutter.

For an interesting and funny read while I regroup, I have to send you to a couple of blogs that I found recently.  First, you have to read my blog post about making chocolate croissants here.  Checking my stats the other day, I saw a lot of hits on that post from a blog that I had never seen before.  Michelle has a blog called Diary of a Late Bloomer.  She is writing a daily blog about living curiously and attended a writing workshop where she met up with a guy named Todd who is also writing about his life.  It seems that the two of them share a birthday and an interest in blogging and decided to do a virtual experiment.  Each of them would cook the same thing in their kitchens at the same time,  They would  text each other during the process to see how each was doing and post about it.  The challenge was to cook a chick dish and a guy’s dish.  Michelle chose the chocolate croissants that were featured in the movie It’s Complicated.  She hit on my post and blogged hysterically about her experience in making croissants.  Todd’s 606 Diaries gives the “he said” version to Michelle’s “she said” version and is just as funny.  Who could not like a guy who puts yeast dough in the dryer to rise.  His choice for the upcoming guy’s dish was dishwasher lasagne and you can check out their later posts for that result.  But the croissant post made my day.  I hope it does the same for you.  By the way, I have a wonderful husband, son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, but I own a mutt named Daisy and not a Cavelier King Charles Spaniel.  Also Zen is not in my vocabulary.  Thanks Michelle and Todd.  You are both talented and very funny bloggers.

Do you remember the days when extended families lived in the same town and family get togethers included aunts and uncles and myriads of cousins?  I do.  I grew up that way and so did my husband.  He grew up in a small farm community called Keeler.  His Grandparents lived in a big stone house and their 4 children and their families lived within shouting distance in houses scattered amongst the orchards and dirt roads that bisected  the community.  The whole family was involved in both farming the cherry orchards and a road construction business.

Needless to say, family get togethers had to serve up to 20 people.  And as it was in my family, each aunt had a specialty.  I was going through my recipes the other day and found this recipe that David’s cousin Kathie gave me for her Mom’s sweet veggie salad.  Since my family is visiting I thought it was appropriate to make it.  Sometimes I miss the way things were when we were young and families were not scattered in far away places.

My Brother is visiting from Michigan.  Here we are with his Son Paul and his Grandson Seth. 

This old fashioned version of Three Bean Salad makes a great addition to any family meal.

AUNT NANCY’S SWEET VEGGIE SALAD

Double for 20-30 people

Dressing;  Heat to dissolve sugar, then cool
1/2 cup Canola or olive oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup wine vinegar (apple is ok)
Salt and pepper

Drain and put in bowl
2 cans cut green beans
1 can shoepeg corn
1 can garbonzo beans
1 can sliced carrots
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can kidney beans, rinsed

Dice and add
3 ribs celery
1 small onion
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper

Pour cooked dressing over veggies, toss and refrigerate 4 to 24 hours.

Printable recipe

The advantages of planning ahead pay off in big ways.  Earlier in the month when I was planning the pool party that will not happen this year, I made this apple spice cake just like the one served at Spice Kitchen + Bar.  I stuck it in the freezer and forgot about it.  Now with my family coming to visit, I have instant dessert at the ready.  I’ve got to remember to do things like this more often.

The recipe was in an old issue of Bon Appetit Magazine.  My Mother used to make an apple cake that we all loved and this reminded me of her cake.  It is loaded with spices and will go well with scoops of vanilla ice cream.  A bundt cake is good when serving a crowd of people because it is so easy to slice and looks pretty sitting on a cake stand.

I snuck a piece with a glass of milk last night, just to be sure that it was worth blogging about.  It was. The things I do for all of you are unbelievable.

APPLE SPICE CAKE WITH BROWN SUGAR GLAZE

Cake:
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 3/4 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, coarsely grated

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Glaze:
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt

For Cake:  Postion rack in center of oven and preheat to 325 degrees F.  Spray 12-cup Bundt pan with nonstick spray.  Sift flour and next 6 ingredients into medium bowl.  Drain grated apples in strainer.  Using hands or kitchen towel, squeeze out excess liquid from apples.  Measure 2 cups grated apples.

Using electric mixer, beat butter, both sugars, and lemon peel in large bowl until fluffy.  Beat in eggs, 1 at a time.  Mix in vanilla and lemon juice.  Beat in flour mixture.  Mix in grated apples.  Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour.  Cool in pan on rack 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare glaze:  Stir all ingredients in small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to boil. Reduce heat to medium; whisk until glaze is smooth, about 1 minute.  Remove from heat.

Invert cake onto rack set over baking sheet.  Using small skewer, pierce holes all ove top of warm cake.  Pour glaze over top, allowing it to be absorbed before adding more.  Cool cake 30 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.