Fare Exchange: Making sugar-free berry shortcake, new meals at GreenHouse Cafe

Jane Henegar
Jane Henegar

To reach us

Fare Exchange is a longtime meeting place for people who love to cook and love to eat. We welcome both your recipes and your requests. Be sure to include precise instructions for every recipe you send. Mailing address: Jane Henegar, 913 Mount Olive Road, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750 E-mail: chattfare@gmail.com

Good morning, good cooking company. Today we are searching for a list of farms or growers in our area who offer boxes of produce to homeowners; these suppliers often are reached through the Community Supported Agriculture movement.

Also, who can help a reader find the Town and Country restaurant cookbook, distributed when the iconic local eatery closed? Finally, here is a repeat pair of requests: for crme frache, and grits-and-greens in the manner of Eidson's Restaurant.

Agnes Wheeler "wondered if it is possible to obtain the 'Town and Country Cookbook' (Chattanooga's well-loved restaurant). I missed the closing and I guess that is where the cookbooks were available."

Mary Zelle "would love to see a list of farms and farmers in the area who will sell subscriptions for weekly or biweekly boxes of produce to be picked up during the growing season. If this has been in the paper this year, I've missed it."

One more request: A reader named Carol asks us all to include the servings or yield for recipes in Fare Exchange. It seems wise to add at recipe's end that it "makes six servings" instead of "serves six" because it all really depends on how hungry those diners are.

Creamed spinach

In the mail this week was a second recipe for creamed spinach similar to the kind made by Ruth's Chris Steak House. Carolyn E. Hixson found this one.

The creamed spinach at Ruth's Chris inspired this recipe that has just a hint of cayenne pepper for that Louisiana zing. The recipe requires a package of frozen spinach to make it convenient, but you may use the same amount of fresh spinach if you prefer.

Ruth's Chris Steak House Creamed Spinach

1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoons all-purpose flour

cup heavy cream

teaspoon salt

Dash nutmeg

Dash pepper

Dash cayenne pepper

Cook the spinach following the directions on the package. Drain and squeeze all the liquid from the spinach when it's done.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Be careful not to burn it. Add the flour to the melted butter and stir until smooth. Add cream and beat for 2 to 3 minutes or until sauce thickens. Stir constantly so that sauce does not burn. Add the spinach, salt, pepper, nutmeg and cayenne. Cook for 2 to 4 minutes, stirring often. Serve hot.

Serves 4 as a side dish.

Sugar-free cake

As promised, Helen Cooper's first sugar-free recipe gets printed today. Ms. Cooper refers to a Maryann cake pan, which may be purchased on the Web. And she prescribes good vanilla extract, so it would be helpful to hear from readers about what makes a good extract and where one may be purchased.

Requests

* Farms that supply locally grown boxes of produce * "Town and Country Cookbook" * Creme fraiche * Eidson's Restaurant grits-andgreens

Sugar-Free Berry Shortcake

1 package unsweetened mixed berries, frozen (I like the Publix ones; a large package is enough for 2 cakes and the berries are really big)

3 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1 tablespoon good vanilla extract

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

1 Pillsbury yellow sugar-free cake mix

Splenda

1 sugar-free Sprite or other lemon-lime soft drink

Pour berries in large bowl and let thaw, several hours prior to baking or the day before.

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Spray the pan with baking spray of your choice.

Use a wire whisk to prepare this batter. Using a mixer makes the batter too light and fluffy, and it has a "bought cake" texture, but using the whisk doesn't.

Beat eggs with whisk and add oil, vanilla and buttermilk. When liquids are blended well, add cake mix and continue to whisk until blended.

I use a Maryann flan pan because the berries fill the well in the top nicely and the juice soaks down through the cake. If you don't have a flan pan, a 9-by-13 pan will work -- or you can make cupcakes. Either way, pour the batter into the prepared pan; bake for about 35 minutes, or test for doneness with wooden toothpick.

Baking at 350 degrees tends to make the center of the cake rise too high, so a lower temperature works best, about 325 degrees for about 5 or 6 minutes.

To prepare the thawed berries, add Splenda to taste. It's pretty sweet with cup. Splenda does not have the properties of sugar to make a nice juice, so add the sugar-free soft drink. If you like lots of juice, add the entire can.

When cake is done, remove it from oven and let sit in the pan for about 10 minutes, then invert it on a large, round platter. If cake has the "mountain in the middle," put an iron skillet on the pan after inverting, and leave it for another 10 or 15 minutes.

Remove the pan and let cake cool for an hour or so, then add the berries. If you don't have the flan pan and use 9-by-13 one, pierce the cake all over with a chopstick or large-tined fork; pour the berries over the cake while in the pan. If you make cupcakes, slice them in half and spoon berries over each. For an added festive look, squirt some whipped cream on top.

Vegan, gluten-free meals

There is news from the GreenHouse Café Market. Proprietor B. Woody and chef Elia Gouvitsa are serving a weekly variety of vegan and gluten-safe meals for pick-up and delivery. A taste-test of one of those meals proves that a rich combination of colors, flavors and crunch leaves nothing to be desired. Here are two menu examples:

* Eggplant Rollatini: Roasted eggplant stuffed with GreenHouse sundried-tomato basil, cashew cheese, spinach, topped with sundried-tomato marinara served with pesto-stuffed mushrooms

* GreenHouse Café Rawsome Pizza: Almond crust topped with cashew cheese, spinach, mushrooms, caramelized onions and marinara. Served with Italian-marinated greens. For dessert, sweet potato pie.

Consult the café's website at thegreenhousecafemarket.com. Their harvest meals have been sold out, so don't wait until the last minute. The packaging is inviting as well.

Just a Dash

Mayonnaise Man loves the condiment in any context, but today advises putting it in two surprising places. "Stir some into your mashed potatoes or twice-baked potatoes for added flavor and richness. Also, the next time you make grilled cheese sandwiches, put mayonnaise on the outside of the bread and brown the sandwich on both mayonnaise-covered sides in a skillet. It works."

And that is the last dollop for today. Do come back.

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