I just returned from a one way trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina, to judge a cooking contest for Lowcountry Literacy. It was a well organized event, with many capable volunteers. It was interesting, as always, to see what the chefs created.
Maybe I'm a funny judge, but I really don't like it when contestants use very special ingredients that the other contestants don't have. (In this case, each one was allowed to bring several ingredients -- including their own stock.) But really, the challenge is to use what is there. That's what I have to do at home, for instance.
Surprisingly, we saw three crepe desserts, two of them "Suzettey" -- i.e., with orange liquor. I wonder if they are coming back. Not one of them tried a pastry (although to be fair there was no refrigeration on the floor -- they would have had to run it back to the space set aside for the volunteers, where there was a freezer and a refrigerator.
Saturday I went to our farmer's market and really binged, buying all sorts of wonderful produce. Frustrated at not having time to use any of it, I just tucked a blueberry/raspberry cobbler in the oven. Its my old lazy girl cobbler, which is a simple thing to assemble and make. I always start to crave it when the fresh fruit starts coming. Granulated or brown sugar can be used. Self-rising flour is a must. A like a larger baking dish rather than a smaller because I like the crispy edge where the butter comes up around. Yum.
Lazy Girl Cobbler
1 stick butter
1 cup each milk, self-rising flour, and sugar.
2 cups berries or peaches
Preheat oven to 350@. Put the butter in a baking dish and let it melt in the oven. Meanwhile, whisk together milk, self-rising flour and 3/4 of the sugar. Add the other 1/4 cup of sugar to the berries and toss gently. When the butter is melted (about 5 minutes) remove the dish, pour in the batter, and top the batter with the fruit and any juices. Bake until brown and cooked through -- half an hour to 45 minutes, depending on the dish.
I did buy fresh eggs at the market, and sauteed them in butter for dinner last night after I returned from Hilton Head at nearly seven. They were just perfect and Jack and I sopped them up. I had mine sunny side up where Jack's I turned over easy. He doesn't love the runny yellow like I do. Fresh eggs taste so much better than store-bought. The yellow holds together more and makes it a beautiful painting in the pan.
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- nathalie dupree
- Nathalie Dupree is the author of ten cookbooks, eight of which are hard backs, selling over half a million copies, and host of three hundred television shows, which have aired on PBS, The Learning Channel and The Food Network for over fifteen years. Nathalie, as she is known to her fans, has won innumerable awards for her work, including two James Beard Awards. She is most famous for her approachability and understanding of Southern cooking, having started the New Southern Cooking movement now found in many restaurants throughout the South. She has been Chef of three restaurants, one in Majorca, Spain, one in Social Circle, Georgia, and one in Richmond, Virginia. She was the Director of Rich’s Cooking School, a full participation cooking school in Atlanta, and stopped counting at 10,000 students. Numerous students of hers now own restaurants, catering or other food businesses, and have written their own cookbooks. Married to author Jack Bass, she lives in Charleston, South Carolina.
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