Southern Tastes

                                                                               
                                                                              By Gwendolyn Bynoe
                                                                     http://www.linkedin.com/in/gwendolynbynoe

I am a southern girl at heart even though I was born and raised in the north.  So, when it comes to cooking I tend to have a yearning every now and then for a taste of southern flare.  Usually, Sundays tend to bring that part of me alive.  As I wondered about what I was going to cook today, I began to reminiscence about my mother’s cooking.  I knew I needed to satisfy my yearnings for comfort food.  Comfort food that generates fond memories of a south where summer visits were frequent as a child--slower pace, folks were friendlier –polite in comings in goings and exchanges with perfect strangers were unencumbered by appearances.   

Finding spices for the day, I began opening up my cabinets looking for spices available.  Nothing seemed to strike my fancy.  Spices available were too typical and I was cooking beef chuck today—nothing special.   Well, since the need for comfort food would not be satisfied with my beef dish, a side dish would have to do.  Off I went to review my supplies in the refrigerator.  

Fresh cream corn!  Oh do I have fond memories of my mother’s fresh cream corn.  She would cut the kernels off the cob, scrape across the cob to reap the benefits of the excess kernel juices, and then she would fry it with onions and butter, salt and pepper to taste—now that’s what I call comfort food.

Today, fresh cream corn is going to get a facelift-or an added twist if you will.  My refrigerator holds 12 ears of fresh sweet corn of which I purchased Saturday on sale—12 ears for $1.99 at Stop & Shop.  For this recipe only three ears are required.   I also have 7oz of pepper jack cheese, and the freezer includes zucchini and broccoli crowns.  The recipe is very simple:

Ingredients:

·         3 ears of sweet corn

·         1 1/2  cup broccoli crowns

·         ¾  cup zucchini

·         ½ onion chopped

·         2 tablespoons olive oil

·         3 tablespoons of butter

·         Salt and pepper to taste

o   Cream sauce

§  7 oz pepper jack  cheese

§  1 fork full flour

§  ½ cup milk

§  1 tablespoon water

In frying pan add olive oil and butter until butter melts.  Add thawed broccoli and zucchini (or fresh), corn, onions, and salt and pepper to taste.  Fry until vegetables are soft and tender.  Once done put aside, prepare cream sauce, and preheat oven at 350.  Cut pepper jack cheese in small squares, pour milk in small sauce pan, add cheese and gradually stir until cheese is almost thoroughly melted (some cheese lumps will remain until you add the flour mixture).  Take a small cup add the flour, water, stir until smooth, add to cheese mixture, continue stirring until cheese mixture is nice and smooth.  Pour vegetables in a 9x12 baking dish, pour cream sauce over vegetables, cover with foil and bake for 30-40 minutes.   

Comfort Food - Enjoy!

Groove at Fifty -- I am in the Zone

                                                                
                                   By Gwendolyn Bynoe
                                                                     http://www.linkedin.com/in/gwendolynbynoe

                                   

After years of experimenting with different foods and flavors, I have finally found my cooking groove.  I mean it is truly uncanny, I just think about a dish and I am able to bring it to fruition.  Foods and flavors that I wasn’t raised on, I am able to pull them together to make a special dish.  To the point where I am now starting to document some of the recipes I have created over the years.

I know this sounds silly (particularly, since I am a woman), but when I was coming up, I never thought that I would need to learn the skill of cooking.  As a child, I can remember always knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life, and believe me cooking was not in that picture.  My dreams and goals as a child centered around doing well in school, going to college, finishing college, being a teacher or a fashion designer, and /or owning my own business.  Never did I once consider that I would need to learn how to cook.  So, I spent a minimal amount of time in the kitchen with my mother.

But as life would have it, of course, I met my husband, fell in love, and got married, had children and inevitably I had to learn how to cook.  Now, if you are married to a man who enjoys rice and peas, ox tail, curried goat, etc, what is a woman to do but to learn how to cook those dishes.  I tell you there was one Sunday I cooked white rice with butter (one of my favorite childhood dishes).  My husband had a fit and threatened to throw the white rice out the window because it didn’t have peas in it.  He said, “How can you have a Sunday dinner without peas and rice?”  From that day I vowed, I would learn the art of cooking so I could cook a good Sunday meal, if it killed me.  So, after approximately 25 years of cooking Sunday dinners I have found my cooking groove.

Who would have thought the “business woman” would actually enjoy creating a Sunday meal.  Perhaps, it is the age factor, but I truly enjoy the piece and quiet and tranquility of not thinking about any particular thing when I am cooking with the exception of thinking about the ingredients I am going to select to go into my Sunday’s meal.

On that note, I give you my Mother’s day recipe for Sunday’s Meal 2009.  And, if I must say, it was another wonderful meal.  Now, keep in mind I do not profess to be a chef, I am just saying over time I have learned how to cook good meals for my family.  So, I am not one to use measuring tools.  I have my own method of adding the appropriate amount of seasonings. Therefore, the amounts listed in the recipe are approximate measurements.   

Mother’s Day Meal 2009 – Slow Cooker

Ingredients

·         1 package of top blade beef chuck- approximately 2.75 lbs /about 10 pieces.

·         4 tablespoons Soy Sauce

·         1 tablspoon Grace all purpose seasoning

·          1 teaspoon Pepper

·          2 tablespoons  Mild Bajan seasoning

·          2 tablespoons Polaner chopped garlic

·          1 tablespoon Hot jerk seasoning

·         1 red pepper

·         1 medium onion

·         1-16 oz package brussel sprouts

·         Approximately 30 baby cut carrots

·         Garlic powder

·         salt

Pierce meat and place in slow cooker.  Pour soy sauce over meat wetting both sides of the meet.  Rub and mesh all seasonings on meat one at a time with garlic being the last ingredient.  Rub and mesh meats together to fully ingrain the seasonings and soy sauce in the meet.  No excess soy sauce or other ingredients should be left in the pan.

After seasoning meat, re-layer the meat in the bottom of the slow cooker.

·         Chop red pepper and layer on top of meat

·         Chop medium onion and layer on top of red pepper

·         Layer brussel sprouts on top of onions and peppers

·         Layer baby carrots across top of all other ingredients

Sprinkle ½ teaspoon of garlic powder, pepper, all grace seasoning, and salt.  Cook in slow cooker approximately 4 hours.

For gravy, pour some of the juices from the slow cooker into a cup or bowl, add 1- 2 tablespoons of  flour, approximately 1-2 teaspoons of gravy master, briskly beat all ingredients with fork until smooth, then pour all mixed ingredients back into the  pan with the remaining juices –mix well.

Finished dish can be served with side dishes such as peas and rice, plain white rice, macaroni and cheese, etc.

Enjoy!