food

I have been in exile for 10 months. The kitchen is tiny. There is no room for basic kitchen wares, much less specialty small appliances like a panini maker.

Earlier in the year, I saw a recipe for an apple, cheddar, and ham panini. Looking for something new to try, I thought I’d go home and give the recipe a chance. One problem; No panini maker. But wait! I did have a waffle iron. It’s a little messy, a little small, but gets the job done. When there’s no room to do, you learn to make do.

This type of sandwich has become one of my youngest son’s favorite quick suppers.

ABCC Panini (apple, bacon, chicken, cheese)

Makes 3 Paninis– or Waffle-inis:

6 slices( bread your choice)

3 chicken tenders pounded thin and grilled with your choice of seasoning

3 slices cooked bacon

1 apple cored and thinly sliced sideways, making pretty rounds

Sliced cheddar and mozzarella 

What to do:

Build your sandwich on an open and hot waffle iron that’s been coated with vegetable spray. Be careful. It’s hot. Don’t be an idiot.

I do bread, cheese, chicken, apple, bacon, cheese, and another slice of bread. Carefully close the waffle iron and press down on the handle till you see the cheese starting to melt. Be careful. Flip the sandwich, at this point. I used a pair of long handled tongs to do this step.

When everything is squished together and a melted conglomeration of flavors, remove to a plate and make another. I made three last night. I ate one and my son ate the other two.

Don’t need a panini maker. An old George Forman griil would work, too.

Saturday mornings excursion was a hot trip to a farmers’ market in Lincoln County. It’s peach season in our part of the world, so a bag of the fuzzy fruit made it into my buggy ( that’s a shopping cart for those of you living above the Mason Dixon Line and west of Texas). Local honey, sorghum syrup, and may haw jelly joined the peaches. A head of lettuce and red, ripe tomatoes would become lunch in a traditional BLT.  Fresh pink eye, purple hull peas and big eggplant were bought for supper sides this week.

The temperatures in Mississippi have reach the century mark in recent weeks. Can you say oppressive? On the drive home, the car started running hot! Windows down, booked it back home.

Sunday’s breakfast was Peach Crisp and Jim Dandy grits.

I didn’t start drinking coffee till I turned 50. I blame my mother ( don’t we all?) When I was little and would see the grown ups drinking coffee, I would ask for some. She would tell me that drinking coffee would turn my ears black. I pointed out to her that her ears weren’t black. “Well, I’m a grown up,” was her reply. When I was allowd a cup of coffee, it was more milk than coffee with too much sugar added (probably my doing). I never finished a cup of it and never developed a taste for it, until this past February.

My very good friend and I share a birthday. We are birthday sisters! We took a trip to the coast; the Gulf of Mexico is just as beautiful in the winter as it is in the summer.

For our birthday supper, we went to a swank restaurant called the Wharf. If you’re ever in Orange Beach you must go. I recommend the scallops and the shrimp stuffed quail. Absolutely the best meal I’ve ever had.

It was a gorgeous room and had equally handsome waiters. Very European looking men; dressed all in white, so as to compliment the color palette of the room. Hues of the ocean and shoreline graced the walls where windows looked out to the wharf and a fleet of yhats.

My friend told our waiter that we were celebrating our birthday. After dinner he brought out complimentary dishes of strawberry Gelato. Birthday Sister asked for coffee and on a whim, I asked for our waiter to bring me a cup too. After all, I was now 50! I had finally reached adulthood.

Tiny delicate cups of expresso were brought to the table. My friend used all of the cream, before I could fix my cup.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll call the waiter for some more.” I think she just wanted another chance to eye him. And he was an eye full.

“No, don’t do that. I’ll just use my Gelato!” I told my sister and scraped the last spoonful into my expresso.

Pretty dang good!

Since February, I’ve continued to enjoy coffee. My mother is happy. The lady that told me my ears would turn black jumps at the chance to share a pot with me.

Life has given me a bowl full of lemons; Not just a small bowl, but a great big, earthen ware, workhorse of a bowl. Do I want to make lemonade with those yellow, sour fruit? No. I want to make Lemon Meringue Pie.

In the country, I had a flock of bantam hens. In that flock were some Silver Duckwing bantams. There was a rooster: he had an attitude and his name was Jack. His crow wasn’t cock-a-doodle-do. He said, “Happy Easter!” Their little eggs made the filling color of Lemon Meringue Pie look like the summer sun.

I made this beautiful pie for special occasions, usually at Christmas and Easter or church choir parties. Today is Homemade Pie Day. That’s special enough of a reason to whip this up in the Exile’s Kitchen.

1 frozen pie crust, baked

Filling Ingredients:

4 eggs, seperated (yolks in a bowl, whites in another)

Juice of 4 lemons, should equal 1/2 cup

1/2 cup of water

1/4 cup corn starch

1 1/2 cups white sugar

Dash of salt

4 or 5 pats of butter

2 teaspoons lemon zest

What to do:

In a large measuring cup, mix lemon juice, egg yolks and water. Pour into a 2 quart sauce pan. In a small bowl, mix sugar and corn starch. Whisk sugar mixture into lemon juice mixture. Cook over medium high heat, till it starts to boil, whisking the entire time so it doesn’t burn. It takes a few minutes for it to thicken, but when it does, remove the pot from the heat. At this point, add salt, butter and lemon zest. Before the filling thickens, you will notice that it is frothy. The fat in the butter takes care of that. The filling will get glossy. Just beautiful! Pour pie filling into the prepared pie shell.

Now for the meringue:

4 egg whites

Pinch salt

1/2 cup sugar

Pour egg whites into a stand mixer and with the whisk attachment, turn it on to medium/high. Let it go. Don’t rush it. At first they’ll be clear, then foamy, then white. Slowly add in sugar. Beat till stiff peaks form. That means the meringue hangs onto the beater when lifted out of the mixer.

With a big spoon, spread the meringue over the top, all the way to the edges of the pie crust. Tap the back of the spoon, gently on the top of the meringue to form floppy peaks. Don’t smoothe the meringue down flat; it should look like a restless wave at the beach rushing up to kiss the shoreline. Ha!

Gently place the pie in the center of a 350° preheated oven and bake till those white, floppy, ocean wave peaks are tinted gold. Take the pie out of the oven and cool before serving. It’s tangy, a little tart, but oh so sweet. Perfect for Homemade Pie Day in the Exile’s Kitchen.

I heard that Tuesday, August 4 was chocolate chip day. Google has it as May 15. Any day one bakes something with chocolate chips in it can be chocolate chip day! So, in honor of those little drops of semi-sweet cocoa, choco, something-something and for all of the people I know who are going gluten free here is my recipe for Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Ingredients

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup coconut oil

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups of Buckwheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped pecans

10 ounce bag of soy free Enjoy Life chocolate chips, minus 1 tablespoon

Vegetable spray

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a stand mixer, cream together sugars, butter and oil. Add in the egg and the vanilla, mixing well.

In a small bowl, sift together Buckwheat flour, baking soda and salt. Add the chopped pecans to the flour. With the mixer on a low setting, tap in the flour mixture and then tear open that bag of soy free chocolate chips. Holding back one tablespoon of chips, dump the rest into the spinning mixer. Increase speed till dough is well mixed.

Get out that wonderful muffin top pan again: spray each cup with vegetable spray. Using a small  scoop, drop cookie dough into each cup. Slightly flatten each mound of cookie dough with the bottom of a glass dipped in a little dish of water. These cookies don’t spread much and need a little coaxing.

Bake in a preheated oven for 10 minutes or until edges are browned. While they’re baking, scarf down that tablespoon of choco chips! Man, I love this brand of chocolate chips. If you can’t find them in your grocery store, order them off Amazon. Cool cookies a few minutes in the pan and then remove to a plate or wire wrack. These cookies have a dark brown color and a nutty flavor. The recipe makes about 2 1/2 dozen.