Cure for the Common Cold

So, it has been a busy summer and I haven't updated this as much as I should. Lots of gardening, enjoying nature, canning, and cooking have occupied my time, but things haven't left much time for writing. To top it off, in the last month I've been sick TWICE, after two years cold and flu free. Yikes! But you get to benefit, because in my last round of sickness, I discovered the cure for the common cold. Try it next time you are sick, and you won't be sick for long. Bonus, it is tasty, and could also be used to ward off vampires!
Also, if you are sick and making this, be easy on yourself. Sit down when you chop the onions/garlic. Keep on the lowest flame you can so you can just sit and drink tea and let it cook. Then enjoy it's restorative powers.

Cold Cure Soup
1 Tbsp. canola oil
1 onion, peeled, sliced in half and then sliced into thins half moons
1 head of garlic, peeled, and cloves smashed (yes, the WHOLE HEAD)
hefty pinch of sea salt
4 cups veggie broth or 4 cups water and 1 cube veggie boullion
1 tsp. turmeric
pinch of coriander powder (optional)

Heat canola oil over medium flame, until rippling. Add onions and salt. Stir quickly to induce sweating. If onions look at all like they might burn or brown, turn the heat down to medium low. After the onions sweat for 5 minutes, add garlic cloves. Sweat together for about 15 minutes. When completely translucent and soft, add water/broth/bouillon and turmeric and coriander powder if using. Cover, raise heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium low and allow to simmer for 10 minutes at least, 20 minutes if you have the time. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a minute or two (inhale the vapors when you remove the lid, it will open your sinuses!), then run through a blender to make smooth (or use an immersion blender). This recipe will make two large bowls of soup, I suggest eating both together if your appetite (and tolerance for garlic!) will allow.

The most quintessential Southern dish of all time- Squah casserole

Like most recipes I create, this dish happens in steps, and it will take some time. But, like the others, it is well worth the effort, in fact, if you only make one recipe from this blog, make this one. The woodsy roasted mushrooms and squash match so well with the creamy leek cream soup, it is a delightful combination. And for such a rich tasting dish, you will barely believe that I had no need for mayonnaise, sour cream, or buttery crackers in this recipe, just a little bread crumbs and a single egg to hold it all together.

The steps are these: chop and roast squash and mushrooms, make creamy leek soup, mix the two with a few other ingredients, bake and enjoy.

Roasted veggies
Ingredients
1 pound mushrooms, cleaned and sliced into 8ths (I used black mushrooms but baby bellas or cremini would also be good in this)
1 small white onion, chopped
3 lbs. squash, chopped into half inch slices
2 tbsp. olive oil
a few cracks of the pepper cracker

Set oven to 375 degrees. Toss the squash and mushrooms with the olive oil and pepper, until everything is coated. Roast for 30 minutes, remove, stir and roast for another 15 to 20 minutes.
When done, set aside to cool.

Cream of Leek soup
Ingredients
2 leeks, tops removed, then sliced thin and cleaned
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 cube mushroom bouillon
2 1/2 cup milk
1/4 all purpose flour
1 package mushroom gravy (I use road's end organics, it needs to equal one cup)

Heat the butter and olive oil in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium low. Once the oil is warmed and butter melted, saute the leeks and garlic slowly, for 20 minutes until the leeks are soft and fragrant and garlic golden. It will smell like heaven. In a large pyrex or microwave safe bowl, heat the mushroom bouillon and and milk together for a minute or two, until milk is very hot. Whisk vigorously to melt the bouillon cube. Set aside. Add the flour to the leeks and stir with a whisk. Cook for a couple minutes, then add the mushroom bouillon/milk mixture, continuing to whisk until the flour is completely mixed into the milk. Cook, stirring constantly for 5 minutes as the mixture thickens. Finally, pour in the mushroom gravy mix packet, and the soup should take on a think, creamy texture similar to creamy condensed soup which has been about halfway reconstituted.

Time to put it all together.
Ingredients
Roasted veggies
Creamy Leek soup
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. mild cheese like white cheddar, Mexican quesadilla cheese or mozzarella
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. plain bread crumbs

Reduce oven heat to 350. In a large lightly greased casserole dish, combine the roasted veggies, creamy leek soup, egg, 1/2 cup cheese and 1/4 cup breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the remaining cheese and breadcrumbs over top of the mixture. Cover and bake for 45 minutes, until the cheese is brown and bubbly and casserole is set.

Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes to cool. Enjoy!

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

You are going to love this recipe. No beautiful picture of this because I gave my most recent lasagna away. I developed this for my mom for Mother's day and she thought it was great. I promise you, this dish is delicious and worth all the time spent on it. And I will warn you, it takes a while. At least 3 hours total, although most of that is just hanging out while things cook. If you don't have time to make it all at once, I suggest making the sauce and roasting the veggies one day, and then assembling and baking on the day you plan to serve. By the way, this sauce is amazing on pasta as well if you'd rather just eat some very tasty spaghetti.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna
This recipe has four steps: Make the sauce, roast the veggies, mix up the cheesy ricotta filling, and assemble the lasagna. You can make this easy by making the veggies and cheesy filling while the sauce cooks and then assembling and baking the lasagna.

For Sauce

Ingredients:
1/2 cup good olive oil, the best you can afford
1 and 1/2 TBS. of garlic, about 3 or 4 cloves, chopped
1 28 ounce can of crushed Italian tomatoes (I prefer Italian but use whatever you can find, and if you have some with basil and garlic in it already that's fine too)
1 TBS. balsamic vinegar

I make this in a crock pot. Add the olive oil with the crock pot set to low. Heat on low for 10 minutes and then add the crushed garlic. Let simmer for 20 minutes, or until golden. Add crushed tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. Let simmer on low for 3 to 4 hours, stirring occasionally.

While the sauce is cooking, roast the vegetables.

Roasted vegetables

Ingredients:
8 cups of vegetables of your choice, most recently I used what was in season, squash, zucchini, turnips, and spring onions- chopped into about 1/2 inch pieces
3 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup good olive oil
2 TBS. herbes de provence or garlic and herb Mrs. Dash (depending on how fancy you want to be. Other blends would work, too, like italian seasoning, or Spicy Mrs. Dash, whatever you feel like)
Several turns of your black pepper cracker
Place veggies on a lined baking sheet and pre-heat over to 375. Cover veggies with oil, balsmic vinegar and seasonings and pepper. Mix together on the sheet well with your hands so all veggies are covered evenly with seasoning and the oil/vinegar. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from oven and turn veggies. Bake another 20 or 30 minutes, until tender.

While the veggies roast, make the cheesy filling!

Cheesy ricotta filling

Ingredients:
1 15 ounce tub of part skin ricotta
1 15 ounce tub of part skim cottage cheese
a small bunch of fresh basil, chopped fine (this is important, please use fresh, not dried basil if at all possible)
A pinch of salt
Several cracks of black pepper

Mix all ingredients together and set aside.

Time for the big finish, put it all together and bake.

The Lasagna

Ingredients:
1 box no-bake lasagna noodles
Sauce
Roasted Veggies
Cheesy ricotta filling
2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided into 1/2 cup, 1/2 cup and 1 cup measures

This is the easy part. Place a ladle full of sauce in the bottom of a 14x9 pan. Spread the sauce across the pan, add another ladle full of sauce, and keep spreading and adding a ladle of sauce (about 4-5) until the entire bottom of the pan is covered in a thin layer of sauce. Place four noodles on top of the sauce, overlapping each piece only by a millimeter or so. Carefully spread half of the cheesy ricotta filling on top of noddles, followed by half the veggies, spreading in an even, single layer over the entire thing. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, and spread evenly with a few more ladles-full of sauce.

Repeat, adding more ricotta filling, veggies, cheese and sauce in the same manner. Add one final layer of noodles, and ladle on the rest of the sauce, spreading evenly and over to all edges so all the noodles are coated. Sprinkle on remaining cup of mozzarella. Cover loosely with foil, being careful not to touch the foil to the cheese and sauce.

Bake for 55 minutes on 375 degree. Let stand for 15 minutes to cool. Serve with a romaine or bibb lettuce salad with a lemon tahini or vinegrette dressing. Enjoy.

Cesar salad

I am not really a vegetarian, I just eat mostly veg, with occasional fish. It is what works for me now, after 10 full years fully vegetarian. Anyway, if you are offended by fish recipes pass this over.

My Man loves Chicken Cesar salad, so it just makes sense that I would some kind of Cesar salad, without chicken. This time, I'm using a Boca Burger for protein, and a dressing very close to the original, so it contains anchovies.

Cesar Salad - Leaves and Dressing for Two

Take 1 head of romaine, slice of the stubby end off, and discard; then proceed to slice across the head into 1/2 inch width slices. Drop sliced lettuce into a sink filled with 2 inches with very cold soapy (veggie wash) water. Swish around and remove the lettuce to the spinny insert of a lettuce spinner, rinse the lettuce again with cold water. Dry the lettuce in the spinner a couple of times until completely dry. Take a little block of Parmesan and use a microplane to shave the Parmesan into the lettuce, make 10 passes over the microplane, then toss the lettuce and repeat another 10 passes. Crack a little black pepper on that, too, to taste.

Dressing
Juice from one half of a lemon
1 tsp. Dijon mustard (I used honey Dijon)
1 egg
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 anchovies
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
15 twists of cracked pepper
2/3 cup olive oil

Add the lemon juice, Dijon mustard, egg, garlic, anchovies and cracked pepper to a blender. Blend on low until all ingredients are incorporated and smooth. While still blending on low, slowly add the olive oil, blending until it is Incorporated and silky. Done.

Pour on leaves and toss! I covered with a Boca burger sliced in strips and a little diced avocado, I didn't add any croutons, but I didn't have any and was being lazy.

hand made tostadas with black beans and queso fresca

The Food Genius Awoke this morning dreaming of corn tortillas- fresh, soft, hand pressed tortillas cooked on the griddle. Oh yes.
Well, since your humble Food Genius is leaving for Australia in a little more than a week, this was a perfect chance for me to make things from scratch- and use up some items already here in the house.
Since I already had instant masa and dried black beans in the pantry, I decided to go ahead and make a from scratch Mexican meal. I didn't have cheese, but I did have milk and lemons, so I made some farmers cheese.
This was not so difficult as it sounds. Really! Try it, there is nothing like fresh corn tortillas.

Tostadas with Refried Black Beans and Queso Fresca

Refried black beans

2 cups dried black beans (soaked over night)
1 bay leaf
8 cups water
1 tsp. liquid smoke
1 tsp. baking soda

Put all ingredients together in a heavy bottomed pot and heat on medium high until boiling. Reduce heat and simmer until beans are soft. The baking soda helps the beans cook quicker and is also said to reduce gas (so far I find this true).

To refry the black beans- drain your beans and add to a pot heating over medium high heat. Add 1 or 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic and 1 tsp. cumin, plus 1 tsp. hot sauce. Let simmer until thickened.


Tortillas

I had some Quaker instant masa and used the directions on the package to make 12 tortillas. Mix about 2 cups instant masa with 1 1/3 cup warm water and 1/2 tsp. salt. I like to take the dough and roll into a large ball, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 15 minutes. Once the dough is rested, separate into 12 balls about 1 inch thick, keeping covered. Press in tortilla press and cook on a well heated griddle for about 1 minute on each side. Keep warm on a plate covered with a towel.

Queso Fresca

Take about 1/3 gallon low fat milk and 2 cups buttermilk- heat over medium high in a heavy bottomed pot until boiling. Add juice of one lemon to curdle the milk. Line a colander over the sink with cheesecloth and pour your curdled milk into the colander; drain. Stir the curdled milk a bit to let the whey drain. Take all corners of the cheesecloth and pull together and lift up, allowing further draining. Tie with a string and hang for about 30 minutes over the pot, to let all the whey drain out. Unwrap and Viola, a small ball of cheese!

I toasted a couple tortillas in the toaster oven until crispy, and then slathered them with the refried black beans. I then crumbled the queso and sprinkled that on top. I added some thinly sliced romaine and extra hot sauce.

My house smells GOOD right now. Make this!!

The art of brunch

Brunch is a break-from-the-ordinary type of meal. It feels festive especially when sipping on a mimosa. In keeping with our occasional feature on Raleigh eats, we wanted to explore the brunch at the NC Museum of Art. 

The Blue Ridge, the museum restaurant, provides the perfect setting for a leisurely Sunday brunch. The menu is a good mix of breakfast favorites and lunch specials from omelets to salads. The restaurant uses good local ingredients and puts a modern twist on Southern cooking. You know that's what we're all about. 

Coffee or tea and a glass of orange juice are included with meal. Treat yourself to your choice of desserts, too. 

Pictured are the Belgian Waffles made with lemon semolina flour and served with blueberry compote, maple syrup and whipped butter. They were awesome just like everything else I've eaten there. 

Friday January 23 was National Pie Day, to honor the history of pie as part of our American heritage. We at the Modern Southern Kitchen celebrate all things food, and who doesn't love pie? So we rose to the occasion, and created a special Shepard's Pie for your enjoyment.

We created a delectable but crustless Shepard's pie, but we make up for the calorie savings from the missing crust by smothering the veggies in a luscious mushroom gravy. The recipe makes some extra gravy for serving on the side, in case you need a little something to assuage the tingle of the spicy sweet potato topping on your tongue.


Vegetarian Shepard’s Pie
This dish requires several steps, first, boil to potatoes while you chop the vegetables and make the gravy. Sauté the veggies, toss in gravy, assemble and bake.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease a casserole dish.

Sweet potato topping
8 small sweet potatoes
1 tsp. blackening seasoning
1 tsp. herbes de Provence
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp Hot Hungarian paprika (or smoked if you do not like spicy food)
1 Tbsp. butter
12 cracks of fresh ground pepper
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. Garlic Herb Mrs. Dash
1 Tbsp. milk
Boil sweet potatoes in skin until fork tender. Drain and let sit in the colander to cool. Remove skins, discard. Whip sweet potatoes with seasonings and butter and milk until fluffy. Set aside. If you do not like spicy food, replace the hot Hungarian paprika with smoked paprika.

Veggie filling
½ head of cabbage
1 or 2 carrots
6 small turnips
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 once of dried mushrooms, broken into bite size pieces and reconstituted with 2 cups hot water (reserve the water for gravy)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp. vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
Chop all veggies into small bite sized pieces. Heat oil in medium sized pot over medium high heat. Drain mushrooms and strain water into a bowl to use later in gravy. Sauté all veggies in oil and Worcestershire sauce for about 10 minutes until becoming soft and wilted. Set veggie filling to the side until you have made the gravy.
Gravy
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
½ cup flour
1 cup of reserved mushroom water
1 ½ cups milk
½ tsp. thyme
½ tsp. Hot Hungarian paprika
½ tsp. Herbes de Provence
½ tsp. garlic salt
½ tsp. Mrs. Dash garlic and herb
Heat the butter and olive oil in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat. Add flour, let cook for two minutes . Whisk in milk and mushroom water. Add seasonings, bring slowly to a boil, stirring constantly, until thickened.
Toss veggies with half of the gravy. Reserve other half gravy to serve later with the finished dish. Pour veggies into lightly greased casserole dish and top with whipped sweet potatoes. Dot with additional butter if you feel like it. Bake for 45 minutes until top is browned. If top doesn’t brown in 45 minutes and pie is set, broil from the middle rack on high for 2-3 minutes until top is brown and crusty.
Let cool for 10 minutes, serve, with the rest of the gravy on the side.