Southern Squash Casserole

It's that time of year when the squash and zucchini start rolling in as if someone has opened the flood gates. They begin to pile up in the kitchen, in the garage and finally by the garden when space everywhere else runs out. You've probably already steamed, grilled, sauteed, baked and fried* as much as you possibly can, leaving you to think "What on earth am I supposed to do with the rest of this stuff?" Well, you can follow the lead of us Southerners and put it in a casserole.



A Southern squash casserole, much like my favorite baked macaroni and cheese, is basically a gratin. According to cookthink, the word gratin originally referred to the tasty, well-cooked bits left behind on the baking dish, which were often eaten by the chef. Seeing as those are actually my favorite bits of any baked dish I'd say I was destined to be a chef. (Or a home cook. Or what have you.) Cooking something au gratin generally means you are preparing a dish in the oven or combining ingredients in casserole form. Gratins are typically topped with cheese and breadcrumbs, and adding cream will create a brown crust during baking. Call it what you will, but it's a great way to use up the squash and zucchini proliferating in your yard. And if you, like me, are so inclined to freeze sliced squash for the winter months you can eat Southern squash casserole - or, excuse me, gratins - all year long.




Southern Squash Casserole
By Confabulation in the Kitchen
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Ingredients
5 to 7 medium-size squash and/or zucchini, washed and sliced
1 medium white onion, chopped or sliced
1 cup cornbread stuffing or plain white breadcrumbs
4 tablespoons salted butter
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup milk
Salt, pepper and paprika to taste

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 2- to 3-quart casserole (or gratin) dish with cooking spray or butter.
2. Steam (or boil) squash and onion together until tender. Remove from heat (draining if necessary) and slightly break up pieces using fork, potato masher or pastry blender.
3. Using half the squash and onion mix make a layer in the casserole dish. Top with half the bread crumbs and half the cheese. Repeat with remaining squash, bread crumbs and cheese. Dot top with the butter. Pour milk over casserole. Season with salt, pepper and paprika, if desired.
4. Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until gold and bubbly around the edges. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes great leftovers, too, and served with an egg it's a fabulous breakfast.

* Want to eat squash in an even more traditional, Southern way? Slice it then dredge it in cornmeal and sautee it in oil until browned on both sides. Sure, you can get fancy with the dredging, and maybe give it an egg wash first, but we're traditionalists around here. Simply coated in cornmeal, fried and sprinkled with salt is the way we like it. Making it this way is the first thing I ever remember "cooking" by myself. I was little, standing on a chair pulled up to the side of the stove, and in charge of keeping watch over those little, gold coins of goodness.

Berry-Cherry Clafoutis

As a rosy-cheeked, bright-eyed college freshman I had a dream. I was going to minor in French and major in business, and then I would study abroad in Paris at least one semester so I could become fluent in the lanuage. All of this would help me tremendously when I made the big post-graduation move to Paris, where I would be a dark-sunglasses and black-heel clad businesswoman by day and elegant pastry chef by night. I don't think I have to tell you that none of that actually happened, do I? It became apparent that I ultimately had no patience for French sentence formation (even after four semesters in high school and three in college) and no aptitude for business calculus (but let me tell you that oh, how I tried, and oh, how I cried a lot, too.)



My obsession with all things French, however, never waned. While I've been lucky enough to visit France I haven't yet made it to Paris. That's okay because there are lots of blogs that let me visit vicariously, such as Chocolate and Zucchini, where I first heard of clafoutis. (All the way back in 2006! Wow.) I was immediately smitten with this beautiful custard cake. While the French are often, um, fussy about some things their food is often quite unfussy. Rustic. Homey, I'd even say, and clafoutis is no exception. While it sounds like it may consist of three flours and two sugars and a glaze made with a liquor you can't buy outside of Europe - it's not. It's simple and summery and only slightly sweet but full of spunk, much like Parisians, or so I hear.



Recipes for clafoutis abound on the Internet because food bloggers have embraced them in every sense of the word. There are sweet and savory versions, and there are strawberry, cherry and peach versions. I went with cherry - clafouti aux cerises - because it's classically French, but the addition of blackberries turns it into a treat fit for the summer months.



Berry-Cherry Clafoutis
Adapted from Food Blogga
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The French traditionally leave the pits in the cherries when they bake clafoutis because the pits lend an almond flavor to the dessert. Susan recommends pitting the cherries and adding almond extract to the ingredients (since in America we prefer to keep our teeth.) I didn't have any almond extract so I left it out this time. I don't think it harmed the finished product, but by all means add it if you have it in your cupboard.

Ingredients
1 cup sweet cherries, pitted
1 cup blackberries
2 tablespoons slivered almonds
3 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup sifted, all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons almond extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9-inch, round baking dish with nonstick spray, then toss in cherries, blackberries and slivered almonds.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, flour and salt until well-combined.
3. Add milk and vanilla to egg mixture and whisk well. Pour wet ingredients over fruit and almonds.
4. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until dessert puffs and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Center will deflate as the dish cools on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

* Recipe corrected to reflect milk! Thanks for noticing. That's what I get for multitasking while I write...

A Backyard Birthday - Barbecue Grill Cupcakes

What are the things that a backyard barbecue birthday make? Let's make a list: burgers, balloons, cupcakes, cookies, ice cream, Rice Krispie treats, sparklers, and Cokes. Check, check and check - but perhaps kicked up a notch. Cokes are always better when they come in glass bottles and you drink them with old-fashioned paper straws. And Rice Krispy treats and ice-cream cones are only as good as the chocolate, sprinkles, coconut, pecans and candy bars you dip them in. And while at first you worry that the sparklers are going to catch the dry July grass on fire (yikes), you realize that said fires can quickly be put out when you dump the water out of the baby pool onto the yard. Perhaps the sweat-inducing Southern humidity would also help - you know - if we had all taken a moment to wring out our shirts over the yard that night. Sheesh.

But the piece de resistance? Barbecue-grill cupcakes, of course: devil's food cake dotted with miniature chocolate chips; white butter cream frosting simply slathered on with a butter knife; and all decorated with homespun, chocolate grills and candy kebabs, chicken breasts and hot dogs. Yes. Those are definitely the things that a backyard barbecue birthday make. And by the looks of that bright smile above there is a certain new 2-year-old who would agree!



Materials for Barbecue-Grill Cupcakes:

* Chocolate cupcakes with white frosting, in paper liners from Bake It Pretty.
* The grills were made of chocolate candy melts, which I melted in the microwave and poured into a plastic squeeze bottle then piped onto wax paper. I let the grills harden, and they easily pulled off the sheets.
* The hot dogs are made from Mike and Ike's Hot Tamales.
* The kebabs are made of Swedish Fish, cut into small pieces with kitchen shears. I slid them onto toothpicks, then broke off the ends so they matched.
* The chicken breasts are made from Caramel Creams, which I pinched with my fingers to make a chicken breast/steak shape.
* The grill marks are made from a mixture of blue and orange gel food color. I painted them on by hand using a toothpick.
* And my inspiration? These cupcakes from Disney's Family Fun Magazine.

Egg Drop Soup

I really like Chinese food. I guess what I actually like is Americanized Chinese food, and the good stuff is hard to find where I live. It's so often over-cooked, over-sauced and over-priced that we usually skip over the Chinese takeout menus in our trusty Ziplock bag and instead opt for pizza or wings. But sometimes a craving hits, and it's hard to ignore so instead of takeout we head to the almost-hidden Chinese-buffet restaurant near my husband's office. And that's where I get to load up on roasted duck, soy-sauce-laden green beans, and the best egg-drop soup I've ever eaten. It's always the first thing I go for, smooth and creamy and super-eggy, and I've even gotten a certain little boy to try it. (But only if it's in his own bowl, with a huge big-boy soup spoon, and brimming with Chinese noodles, of course. He has his own requirements, don't you know.)

Unfortunately my husband's office is not close enough to our home to make this a regular meal for us so I've had to improvise. You know - make my own soup. (Imagine that!) And I'll be darned if it wasn't easy as pie. Or cake. Or easy as soup, really, because if you cook at all you know that soup is one of the easiest (and cheapest) meals you can make. I get a dozen eggs each week in my CSA box, and along with my homemade, frozen chicken broth this meal is paid for before I even begin cooking. And thank goodness for that because I feel a craving coming on.



Egg Drop Soup
Adapted from Food TV
Makes about 4 servings
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Ingredients
4 cups plus 2 tablespoons chicken broth, divided
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon corn starch
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Salt and pepper to taste
2 green onions, chopped
Chow Mein noodles, optional

Directions
1. In a large pot, bring two cups broth, ginger and soy sauce to a boil.
2. In a separate small bowl, combine cornstarch and two tablespoons of broth. Whisk well then slowly pour into soup pot, stirring contstantly, until soup thickens.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low then slowly pour egg into broth, stirring constantly and gently. Remove from heat.
4. Ladle into bowls and season with salt and pepper. Top with green onions and Chow Mein noodles, if desired. Serve hot.

Mississippi Mud Cookies

For the Fourth of July I thought I'd highlight something American, and because I've been wanting to make cookies for awhile now I went with Mississippi mud. I don't actually know much about Mississippi or its mud, and I bet you think it's strange that I'm not featuring something from my own area. Well, folks, that's because around here we're known for our red-clay mud, which while great for making bricks is not so inspiring in the kitchen. So Mississippi mud it was.



I also realize that Mississippi Mud Cookies are probably not a state-sanctified dessert, but I really wanted cookies. (Or maybe I really wanted chocolate, but that's a different post.) I also had these cute red (er, pink), white and blue marshmallows that my mom brought home for Elaina's baby shower. (They were not the right marshmallows for the party, but I gave Mama an A for effort.) A certain little someone has also been begging for cookies. And "mermellows." How can I refuse a request like that?

And that, my friends, is the long, ridiculous, convoluted way I wound up making Mississippi Mud Cookies with red (er, pink), white and blue marshmallows. These cookies may not really have anything to do with the Fourth of July, but if you're having a cookout tonight I think these cookies would pair nicely with an all-American bottle of Coke and a night sky popping with explosives. So on that note, Happy Independence Day!



Mississippi Mud Cookies
Adapted from My Recipes
(Made about two dozen for me.)
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Ingredients
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
About 1 cup miniature marshmallows (or star/large ones) for topping cookie dough

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Place semisweet chocolate chips in microwaveable bowl. Heat on high for one minute then stir. If they need to be heated more, microwave 30 seconds at a time, then stir until smooth. Set aside to slightly cool.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside.
4. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and melted chocolate.
5. Gradually add flour mixture to wet ingredients, and mix until just combined. Stir in milk chocolate chips and pecans. Chill dough at least 30 minutes, and up to overnight.
6. Drop tablespoons of dough onto prepared sheets. Press three miniature marshmallows, or one star marshmallow, or one large marshmallow into each mound of dough. (You may want to chill dough between batches. It's easier to work with when it's cold.)
7. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are set. Let cool on racks about two minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.