Welcome to our interstate wanderings through memorable meals. A favorite Kentucky food, delivered to someone in North Carolina, has brought forth a question to the Chattanooga paper.
J. Rorex wrote, "Our son brought us some Kentucky Hot Browns sandwiches from a restaurant in Charlotte, and they were delicious. Would like a recipe to make them at home, and it would be really nice to have an easy version. I hear some recipes may be very complicated."
The basic recipe calls for an open-faced turkey sandwich topped with bacon and Mornay sauce, but your variations are most welcome.
Before you leave search mode, note that readers are still seeking Fehn's Russian dressing and Mount Vernon's sweet celery dressing.
Finally, do you know where fresh herb plants may be purchased? The original requester notes, "not the hydroponic ones you can find in some supermarkets, as they never work for me."
CAULIFLOWER SOUP
Here's the cauliflower soup you were looking for, and it's a vegetarian keto version. Thank you, Jaime Sue Threadgill.
Keto Cauliflower and Cheese Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
2 pounds cauliflower, cut into florets
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup sharp shredded Cheddar cheese
Salt and white pepper, to taste
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaf
In a soup pot, warm oil. Add onion, and sauté until soft and lightly colored.
Add garlic and caraway seeds, and sauté another minute. (Do not allow to burn.)
Add cauliflower and broth, and simmer for 25 minutes.
Puree the soup in batches (or use immersion blender) until soup has a creamy consistency, then return soup to pot and add Cheddar. Whisk to completely incorporate. Season to taste. Simmer for 2 minutes. Ladle into warmed bowls; add blue cheese and parsley as topping.
Makes 4 servings.
CROCKPOT CHICKEN
Our online conversation has trended of late toward Sunday lunch, and that led to a missive from Lookout Mountain Reader, who recommended for Sunday a fish meal and two crockpot chicken variations, to be served with rice. Is this a recipe for Sunday lunch or Sunday dinner? The word dinner, applied to a midday meal, elevates it to the main meal of the day.
Crockpot Chicken With Tomato Cream Sauce
Boneless chicken breasts, at least 1/2 pound per person
1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chilies
1 (8-ounce) block cream cheese
Place chicken breasts in crockpot; cut in half if they are large. Pour over chicken the undrained can of tomatoes and green chilies. Lay the block of cream cheese on top of the chicken and sauce. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours or on high for 3 hours.
When you remove the top, the liquid may look curdled. Take chicken out, and pull into large chunks. In the crockpot, whisk the juices together with the cream cheese until smooth. Return chicken to the mixture.
Serve with sliced avocados on top, with rice and your favorite steamed vegetable.
Crockpot Chicken With Lemon Cream Sauce
This is the same basic recipe, but you'll substitute a lemony vinaigrette for the Rotel.
Boneless chicken breasts, at least 1/2 pound per person
1 (11.8-ounce) bottle Kroger Private Selection lemon and oil oil vinaigrette (or other homemade or good store-bought lemon vinaigrette)
1 (8-ounce) block cream cheese
Place chicken breasts in crockpot; cut in half if they are large. Pour over chicken the lemon and olive oil vinaigrette. Lay the block of cream cheese on top of the chicken and sauce. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours or on high for 3 hours.
When you remove the top, the liquid may look curdled. Take chicken out, and pull into large chunks. In the crockpot, whisk the juices together with the cream cheese until smooth. Return chicken to the mixture.
Add chopped chives or parsley to sauce for color. Serve chicken alongside rice, and drizzle both liberally with sauce.
BAKED SALMON
Pesto Salmon
1 large piece salmon (I buy mine at Aldi)
1 carton refrigerated pesto sauce (you can also use pesto in a jar)
Spray a rectangular baking dish, or line it with parchment paper. Lay the salmon, skin side down, in the dish. Spread the pesto thin so that all of the surface is covered. Bake at 425 degrees F for at least 20 minutes.
Remove from oven, and serve with lots of lemon slices, steamed broccoli and yellow rice. The steam-in-bag broccoli florets work well.
EXPIRATION DATES
Jane Guthrie used a can of food recently "dated years ago, and we didn't get sick, or worse." So she did some research online, a portion of which we give you today. She added her own ideas, thus there is no one source to credit. As always, you make sure what's safe in your own kitchen, using your resident good sense.
Here's her advice for what to do about expiration dates.
Food product dating, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls it, is completely voluntary for all products (with the exception of baby food). Not only that, but it has nothing to do with safety. It is solely the manufacturer's best guess as to when its product will no longer be at peak quality, whatever that means. Food manufacturers' dates tend to be conservative dates, knowing that not all of us keep our pantries dark and open our refrigerators as minimally as necessary. (Don't leave the fridge open.)
› Forever foods: Things you definitely don't have to worry about: Vinegars, honey, vanilla or other extracts, sugar, salt, corn syrup and molasses will last virtually forever with little change in quality.
› Oats: Regular steel-cut or rolled oats will last for a year or so before they start to go rancid, but parcooked oats (or instant oats) can last nearly forever. (Same with grits versus instant grits.) This is because unrefined grains contain fats, and fats are the first thing to go off when it comes to dry pantry staples.
› Tree nuts: Typically high in fat, tree nuts will go rancid within a few months in the pantry. (Store them in the freezer to extend that to a few years.)
› White flour is almost certainly fine to use, no matter its age. Whole-wheat and other whole-grain flours can acquire a metallic or soapy odor within a few months. Whiter-equals-longer rule of thumb is true for nonground grains as well. Refined white rice will last for years; brown rice will last only for months.
› Bread: Shelf-stable supermarket breads made with oils (and preservatives) can stay soft for weeks in the fridge, but the lean, crusty sourdough from the corner bakery will be stale by the next day and probably start to mold before the week is up. (Slice and freeze fancy bread, taking it out a slice at a time to toast.)
› Spices: Our parents used spices that expired in the 1980s, but, other than losing potency, there's nothing criminal in using them.
There's a little lightheartedness in the distinctions above (and it's nice to settle into a chair in a lighthearted kitchen). One mustn't take oneself too seriously. And yet, and yet: Please be careful, you indispensable people. And come back next week.
REQUESTS
-- Easy Kentucky Hot Browns sandwich recipe
-- Fehn's Russian dressing
-- Mount Vernon's sweet celery dressing
-- Herb plants
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, and know we cannot test the recipes printed here.
Mailing address: Jane Henegar, 913 Mount Olive Road, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750
Email: chattfare@gmail.com