Welcome to October’s last Exchange. First, here is a request. Yeast of the Ridge wrote, “I am still trying to make the best possible biscuits. The mix from Loveless Café in Nashville works well, but the bag is just about empty. Where could I buy this mix locally – or what mix (homemade or purchased) works best?”
APPLE CRISP
As she organized the papers of her mother’s estate, S.S. discovered a treasure trove of recipes from Celia Marks, the late cookbook author and Chattanooga Times food editor. This one is perfect for the season, and Marks credited her daughter Sidney.
Sidney’s Apple-Honey Crisp Dessert
4 cups sliced tart apples
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon)
1/2 cup honey plus a little for drizzling
Crisp Crust (recipe follows)
Spread apples in shallow baking dish; sprinkle with granulated sugar and lemon juice; pour honey over all. Spread Crisp Crust mixture evenly over apples, then drizzle a thin stream of honey over crust before baking. Bake at 375 degrees about an hour, until crust is crisp. A topping of vanilla ice cream isn’t necessary but is definitely divine.
Crisp Crust
1 cup Bisquick
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Dash salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/3 cup butter
Into a bowl put Bisquick, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and nuts. Work in butter as for biscuits, making it a crumbly mixture.
STRAWBERRY TIP
Betty Domal has a riff on the paper-towel-for-keeping-things-fresh theme. “I had always had a problem keeping strawberries until several years ago I mentioned it at a club meeting. One of the ladies told me about layering them in paper towels, except I don’t put them back in the plastic containers. I layer them in a large shallow bowl between layers of paper towels and they keep much longer. I hardly ever have to throw any away since I’ve been doing that. I like to put them in my cereal.”
Sure enough, one does not load a cereal bowl with strawberries – just a generous scattering – so it’s important to keep those strawberries fresh.
BAKED TOMATOES
I’m going to call this contributor G.P., for Gracious Plenty, as this is exactly what she serves every meal. She has been loading the last lovely tomatoes of summer into her new recipe for tomato pie. “I didn’t do the caramelizing of onions, just because it was too much trouble, but it would have been great.”
Tomato Pie
If you want to take this recipe up a notch, you can caramelize the onions while prepping the other ingredients. If you do that, double the amount of onion.
1 (9-inch) pie shell
3 to 4 tomatoes, cut in half horizontally, squeezed to remove excess juice and roughly chopped, to yield approximately 3 cups chopped tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup chopped yellow or red onion (about 1/3 onion, diced)
1/4 cup sliced basil (about 8 large leaves, though G.P. uses a lot more; see note for slicing tip)
2 cups (8 ounces) grated cheese (combination of sharp Cheddar and Monterey Jack, or Gruyere or mozzarella)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon (or more to taste) of Frank’s Hot Sauce (or Tabasco)
Freshly ground black pepper
Note: To slice basil, chiffonade them by stacking the leaves on top of each other, and roll them up like a cigar. Starting at one end, slice the “cigar” crosswise in thin slices.
Prebake the crust: Heat your oven to 350 degrees. If you are using a store-bought pie shell, follow the directions on the package for prebaking, or prebake it in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes (a little longer for a frozen pie shell), until lightly browned.
If you are using a homemade crust, freeze the crust first, then press a sheet of aluminum foil into the crust to keep the sides of the pie crust from falling down as it cooks. Fill the pie with pie weights such as dry beans or rice to help hold the foil in place.
Prebake the homemade crust for 15 minutes, then remove the foil, use the tines of a fork to poke a few small holes in the bottom of the crust (for venting), and bake for 10 more minutes.
Lightly salt the chopped tomatoes, and set them in a colander over a bowl to drain while you are prebaking the crust.
Squeeze as much moisture as you can out of the chopped tomatoes, using either paper towels, a clean dish towel or a potato ricer.
Sprinkle a layer of chopped onion over the bottom of your prebaked pie crust shell. Spread the drained chopped tomatoes over the onions. Sprinkle the sliced basil over the tomatoes.
In a medium bowl, mix together the grated cheese, mayonnaise, Tabasco and a sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper.
The mixture should be the consistency of a gooey snowball. Spread the cheese mixture over the tomatoes.
Place in oven, and bake at 350 degrees until browned and bubbly, anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes.
FIRST COURSE
Included in an assortment of recipes from Mary Sterling of Calhoun, Georgia, was a most adaptable recipe. It’s for an antipasto tray. You might know that this is a traditional first course in an Italian dinner and that it’s full of cured meats, pickled or marinated vegetables and cheeses. And whether you follow the list given here, full of homemade pickles and relishes, you just might get some ideas of your own. This list looks like it could easily comprise a whole meal, and an easy one.
Antipasto Tray
Herbed Relish (recipe follows)
Leaf lettuce
Equal amounts of mixed pickled vegetables, such as pickled sweet peppers, pickled cauliflower, pickled dill beans, pickled hot pepper
Cubed Monterey Jack cheese or an assortment of favorite cheeses
Thinly sliced salami
Thinly sliced prosciutto or baked ham
Ripe olives
Fresh chopped basil (optional)
Olive oil, if desired
Crusty French bread
On a large platter or serving tray, decoratively arrange leaf lettuce. Place Herbed Relish in center of tray. Decoratively arrange remaining ingredients around relish bowl. Garnish with ripe olives and fresh basil, if desired. Drizzle olive oil over vegetables, if desired. Serve crusty French bread for dipping in Herbed Relish.
Herbed Relish
1/2 cup red pepper relish
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil or 1/4 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 to 2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon fresh-cracked pepper
In a small serving bowl, combine ingredients, and set aside.
Spicy, colorful, crisp and creamy: It’s all here. And it’s all thanks to you all. Come again, please.
Request
* Best biscuits
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