Cornbread

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Cornbread

The best cornbread I ever had was at a restaurant in New Orleans, smothered with Country Crock Spread 13 years ago. I don’t remember the restaurant but this recipe fits the bill. 

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ cups butter

2 ¼ cups sugar (3 if you like your cornbread super sweet)

6 eggs

2 cups sour cream

1 cup milk

4 cups flour

2 cups yellow cornmeal

2 tablespoons baking powder

dash of salt

Oven 350oF

Makes 48 muffins or 2 - 13 x 9 pans

METHOD

1.    Cream butter and sugar together for 5 minutes.

2.    Add eggs 1 at a time.

3.    Add sour cream and milk to butter mixture until just blended.

4.    Sift together flour, cornmeal, and baking powder then add to creamed mixture until just bleneded.

5.    Bake muffins for 20 minutes and for 40 minutes in a large pan.

6.   Cool slightly and serve warm with butter.

 

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Jambalaya

Rice can be intimidating. It has a reputation for burning. It can come out flavorless. Who knows how much water to put in? My mom is notoriously not good at rice, and I used to take after her. My dad, however, is from Ghana and considers himself to be something of a rice expert. He gave me three important rules to cooking rice. 

  1. Just about twice as much water as rice. Officially, let's say 1.75x. This is the most important rule my dad gave me. Other than risotto which is a particularly thirsty grain, I haven't met a rice that doesn't come out great with this ratio. 
  2. You can always add water, but you can't take it out. Again the rice-water ratio is a great guide but sometimes adding tomatoes or coconut milk to your rice and it throws off the ratio. In that case, add less water than you think you need. That way if you see your rice coming up a little dry, you can add more water and reach the perfect texture. 
  3. Thick pot or low boil, stir. This is to guard against burning. 

But enough about rice. We are not here for just rice. We are here for jambalaya. 

I have a healthy disrespect for people who get over-specific with foods that were popularized by lower-class folks. (You can read more about the history of jambalaya here. ) It's a dish which originally featured whatever ingredients were around. So when I was in the grocery store shopping for this dish, I passed right over the andouille sausage, even though most recipes call for it (as does mine), simply because it was too expensive and chorizo was on sale. Sue me!

ingredients

FEEDS 6

  • 10 oz Andouille sausage, sliced
  • 1 lb dark meat chicken, diced into fork-sized pieces
  • [People put shrimp in this but I don't eat shrimp and won't pretend to know I know how to cook it so I left it out of this recipe. Emeril says 12 medium shrimp will do]
  • 2 cups of a rice 
    • I like jasmine rice, but short grain rice is traditional
  • 3 cups of chicken (no shame in using a bouillon cube)
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 stalks of celery, chopped
  • 2 banana peppers
  • 1 cup canned, diced tomatos
  • 1 tbsp of garlic
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp of oregano
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes (some like it hot)
  • 2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce 
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • seasoned salt to taste

COOK TIME

1 HOUR

  • 20 minutes preparation
  • 40 minutes cooking

hardware

  • cutting board & knife
  • large, thick pot
  • heavy spoon

method

  1. All of the meat in the pot at once. Let it brown for about 10 minutes on medium-heat. We are not looking to cook the meat, just brown it to add flavor. 
  2. When the meat has begun to brown, add all of the veggies. The meat might have released enough oil for you to skip this. If not, add a tbsp or two of olive oil and stir. Season vegetables and meat to taste with seasoning salt. It's important to season the food throughout the cooking of a dish. Simmer on medium for 5 minutes. 
  3. Kick the stove back up to medium-high. Add the rice, bay leaf, oregano, and chili flakes and stir. 
  4. Add tomatoes. Then, add about 80% of the stock and the Worcestershire and bring the rice up to a boil. Depending on the salinity of your broth you might have to add a teaspoon or two of season salt. It should have the salinity as a bowl of soup.
  5. Reduce heat to medium and boil until all of the liquid is absorbed. 
  6. Taste your jambalaya? Rice a little tough? Add a half-cup of water and let it boil more. Not enough salt or spice? You know what to do.
  7. Pretend like your are eating creole food with Beyoncé. 


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Heavy Spoon Salmon

Lot's of chefs, via TV or cookbooks, will lie to you and say they make a certain dish. Make no mistake, this is the most popular dish in our house. It's the most popular dish by people who visit our house. It's really not hard to imagine why. 

Salmon naturally has a delicious flavor. The dill, butter, garlic and lemon all serve to amplify not mask it.

I love to cook this dish because it's simple, easy, fast, and appropriate for virtually any situation. 

INGREDIENTS

FEEDS 6

  • 1 side of salmon
  • 3 tablespoons of butter
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon of dried dill
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • salt to taste

COOK TIME

30 minutes

  • 5 minutes preparations
  • 25 minutes bake

HARDWARE

  • large baking dish

METHOD

  1. Put 2 tablespoons of oil in dish. Flip the fish around in dish to coat with oil.
  2. Coat both sides of the salmon with dill, garlic powder, pepper and salt to taste. 
    • if there is skin on the salmon, treat it with a healthy dose of salt and pepper
  3. Slice butter and spread pads evenly over salmon.
  4. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Fish should fill firm, not mushy to the touch. 

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies were inspired by Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies - in fact, this is basically his recipe except for less salt and no baking soda (because I hate the taste.) I stumbled upon his shop one day in NYC and was in heaven! A few years later when I left the city I had a craving for chocolate chip cookies and worked on developing a recipe for a few months. Then I remembered his cookies and didn't have to change too  much of his great recipe. The key is the large chunks of chocolate NOT the small chocolate chips. After all, chocolate is the first word. 

When they are nice and warm, they are gooey and soft and melt in your mouth and make you consider if sticking to your diet is worth your happiness.

-Adjoa


INGREDIENTS                                     

MAKES 25 5" COOKIES or 100 1 ¼" COOKIES

  • 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 ¾ white granulated sugar
  • 2 ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
  • 3 cups pastry flour (cake flour or White Lilly flour)
  • 3 cups bread flour
  • 1 ½ tsp salt
  • 3/4 Tbsp baking powder
  • 2 pounds semisweet chocolate disks

Cook time

35 minutes

  • 20 minutes preparation
  • 15 minutes cooking

HARDWARE

  • mixer (stand or hand)
  • bowl
  • heavy spoon

method

 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Cream together the butter and sugars until light in color and fluffy, about 5 
  3. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
  4. Add vanilla and mix well, scraping the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated.
  5. In a separate bowl combine the pastry flour, bread flour, salt, and baking powder. 
  6. Add flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture on low speed until just combined.
  7. Carefully fold in chocolate disks.
  8. (OPTIONAL) Cover dough and refrigerate 24-72 hours before shaping and baking. It gives slightly chewier cookie. 
  9. When ready to bake, line baking sheet with parchment paper.
  10. Scoop mounds the size of ½ a fist (for large cookies) onto parchment paper and slightly flatten. Make sure the disks aren't poking out too much. You can sprinkle with a little kosher/sea salt if desired.
  11. Bake until lightly browned but still soft in the center, about 15 minutes for smaller cookies, 20 minutes for larger cookies.
  12. Cool on the sheet 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.


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Orange Pearl Couscous

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Orange Pearl Couscous

Ok, ok, so I  first saw this recipe on the back couscous box. But I've tweaked it and tested and tweaked it some more, and I think I made some improvements on the test-kitchen's formula. 

There are three things I like about this dish.

  1. The orange and paprika flavor makes it an especially accompaniment for white fish (try it with our tilapia recipe) as well as practically any meat you can think of... chicken, lamb, beef.
  2. The craisins play really well with the orange in the dish.
  3. This is one of those recipes that are a little off the beaten path so they appear to be really fancy. 

Warning: Making this dish without a zester can be tough. 

INGREDIENTS

  • 8 oz package of pearl couscous
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • zest of an orange
  • 2 tbsp minced garlic
  • 1 1/2 tbsp paprika
  • 1 teaspoon of thyme
  • bay leaf (optional)
  • 1/2 cup of craisins (or raisins)
  • salt to taste

Cook time

25 minutes

  • 10 minutes preparation
  • 15 minutes cooking

HARDWARE

  • medium pot
  • cutting board / knife
  • heavy spoon
  • citrus zester (or the fine side of a box grater, or a vegetable peeler in a pinch. Just avoid the bitter white orange pith)

method

  1. In a medium pot, over medium heat,  saute diced onion with olive oil, garlic, paprika, thyme and salt to taste.
  2. When onions are translucent, turn up heat and add couscous. Stir over high heat for two minutes to toast couscous somewhat. 
  3. Add 2 cups of water or whatever is dictated by the couscous package. 
  4. Salt water to taste. Your water should have salinity of a light broth. Add salt teaspoon of salt and check for taste. 
  5. Bring couscous to a boil and cook uncovered for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  6. Apply for your James Beard award. 

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