I love autumn.  I love wearing sweaters, snuggling under a blanket, comforting, slow-cooked stews, steaming bowls of soup.  And my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, which of course leads to a wonderful Christmas season.  But I will admit, that when fall comes on in earnest, and I see the end of tomatoes at the farmer’s market, my herb garden fades and I am not quite ready to break into the stock of summer vegetables in the freezer I feel wistful.  Then I remember the winter squash.  Orange and amber and green, knobbly or smooth, heavy and solid.  Butternut squash is one of my favorite vegetables.  I love it in soups, pasta sauces, lasagna and even baked in bread.  The color, the flavor, the gentle slow-roasting all sing to me of autumn.

Earthy roasted butternut and slightly sweet, nutty chestnuts are a match made in heaven.  Add some woodsy sage and a swirl of rich crème  fraiche and this is a bowl full of fall.  It is a great alternative to sweet potatoes on the Thanksgiving table, but is wonderful with any roasted meat.

Roasted Butternut and Chestnut Purée

A few sage leaves quickly fried in olive oil until crisp make a nice garnish to this dish.

2 butternut squash, about 1 ½ to 2 pounds each

2 small yellow onions

1 head of garlic

Olive oil

5 – 7 ounces peeled chestnuts, from a vacuum packed bag or jar

10 fresh sage leaves

5 ounces crème fraiche

Salt to taste

½ Tablespoon butter

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Peel the butternuts, cut them in half and scoop out the seeds and fibrous innards.  Cut the squash into evenly sized chunks.  Place the chunks on a rimmed baking sheet. Peel and quarter the onions and place on the pan.  Separate the garlic cloves and peel them then add them to the pan.  Drizzle over a little olive oil and use your hands to toss everything around.  You just want to slick the vegetables with oil, so use a little at first and add a bit at a time if you need more. You’ll only need about a Tablespoon. Don’t go all TV chef and dramatically slosh oil in the pan.  You don’t want puddles of oil, or the vegetables will not get the nice caramelization going. Spread the vegetables into an even layer.  Try to tuck the garlic cloves in on top of the squash and onions; they tend to burn if they touch the pan. Sprinkle over a little kosher salt.  Roast the veg for 20 minutes, take the pan out of the oven and flip everything over using a spatula. Add the chestnuts and return the pan to the oven to roast a further 20 minutes until everything is soft when pierced with a sharp knife.  Leave the vegetables to cool.

When the vegetables are cool, transfer them to the bowl of a food processor.  Add the sage leaves and crème fraiche and puree until smooth.  You may have some chunks of chestnut in there, but it adds a nice texture.  Season with salt to taste.  Scrape the puree into a greased 2-quartbaking dish.  You may refrigerate the puree for several hours at this point. When ready to bake, very thinly slice the butter and strew it across the top of the casserole.  Bake until warmed through and golden on top, about 30 minutes.

Serves 6

Recipe magic.  I love things like this.  I  ran across this recipe in a number of old-school community cookbooks.  Enough times that I finally had to try it, to see if it could really work. I shouldn’t have doubted the vaunted cooks of the community recipe collection.  It works, and it is genius.  Now, it is not quite the same as a delicate French soufflé, one that involves whipping egg whites and gentle folding, but those come with the added risk of the dreaded collapse.  But this is light, and if there is an easier, more impressive recipe I have yet to find it.

Let me say one thing.  Don’t question the recipe. I did, and it was a waste of time.  This works. I don’t know why buttering the bread slices And the blender will be full, but it works.  This soufflé is an amazing accompaniment to roasted meats.  It’s good on its own, or with a good tomato sauce.  It makes a great side dish or a lovely luncheon dish with a light green salad.  Whip this up for a weekend brunch, and your diners will be blown away by your skill in the kitchen.

Blender Cheese Soufflé

10 slices hearty white sandwich bread

¼ cup butter (1/2 stick), softened

8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese

2 cups milk

4 eggs

½ teaspoon ground dry mustard

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Dash of Worcestershire sauce

Generous pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Butter a 2 quart ceramic casserole dish.

Remove the crusts from the bread, then butter each slice.  Cut the buttered bread into chunks and set aside. Cut 4 ounces of the cheese into small cubes, and grate the other half on a box grater and set aside.

Place milk and eggs in the carafe of a blender. Stuff the bread and the cheese cubes into the blender.  The blender is going to be full, so stuff everything in there.  Run the blender a few times to get things going.  You’ll need to push the ingredients down into the blender.  Add the seasonings and blend again until the batter is completely smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared casserole dish.  Sprinkle the remaining grated cheese over the batter and stir to combine with the batter.

Bake the soufflé for 45 – 50 minutes until it is puffed in the center and golden and no longer wobbles.  If it starts to brown too much, loosely cover with foil while baking.

Serve immediately. The soufflé will deflate a little as it cools.

Serves 6 – 8

A good potato salad is something of an essential for the backyard cookout or grilling session.  It can be made ahead, and adds that substantial heft to a burger or hot dog plate.  And a homemade potato salad is so much better than a bag of cheap chips.  Served next to a steak, it’s downright elegant.

A very good cook I know, with, let’s say a few more years of wisdom than me, shared the vinegar secret.  She told me the only way to get any flavor in potato salad is vinegar in the water and vinegar on the spuds.  And I think she’s right.  I prefer mellow cider vinegar, but plain old white works just as well.  This dressing is a garlic-y riff on classic green goddess herb dressing.  I add some crumbled bacon because I like bacon with, well, everything, but feel free to leave it out if you are having a meat-heavy meal.

Garlic Goddess Potato Salad

2 pounds small potatoes, yellow, red or a mix

¾ cup cider vinegar, divided

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup well-shaken buttermilk

2 green onions

3 Tablespoons finely chopped chives

Generous handful of parsley leaves, finely chopped

2- 3 cloves garlic

½ pound bacon, cooked and chopped into pieces (optional)

Scrub the potatoes well and cut them into bite-sized pieces, all about the same size so they cook evenly. Place the potatoes in a large Dutch oven and cover with water by about 1 inch.  Add ½ cup of the vinegar and bring to a boil.  Cook the potatoes until tender when pierced with a sharp knife, about 15 minutes.  You want your potatoes cooked through and soft, but not falling apart.

Drain the potatoes in a colander, and return to the pan.  Pour over the remaining ¼ cup vinegar and gently stir to coat the potatoes. Leave to cool while you make the dressing.

Place the mayonnaise, buttermilk, herbs and garlic in the carafe of a blender and blend until smooth. Taste it, and if you’d like to add more garlic, feel free.  Pour the dressing over the cooled potatoes and toss lightly to coat without breaking up the potatoes.  Add the bacon if you are using it. Taste, and add salt if needed. Chill until ready to serve.

The potato salad will keep covered in the fridge for up to 2 days, though you might consider tossing in the bacon right before serving to keep it crispy.

Serves 6

I have a shopping problem.  Fortunately, it’s not for shoes or designer handbags, it’s at the farmers market.  I am so enamored of all the beautiful fresh produce and artisan made foods that my eyes are often bigger than my shopping bag.  I try to go with a plan and a list, but I just get so enticed by all the wonderful things.  The fire-engine red tomatoes in every size and shape.  Electric purple and snowy white eggplants.  Rainbow collections of knobbly peppers. Pink and red and soft and fuzzy peaches.  Plums with an inner glow.  Sunshine yellow squash.   And when I see the speckled green zucchini nestled up next to their crookneck cousins, a few inevitably make it home with me.

I have a large repertoire of squash preparations, but my zucchini menu is limited. I haven’t mastered the right zucchini bread recipe.  I love them on the grill, if I have the grill going.  I’ve done a beautiful shaved salad dressed with a light vinaigrette, but found it prettier than it tasted.  So this is my solution for an abundance of summer zucchini.  A simple casserole that highlights the flavor of zucchini, beautifully set off by fresh oregano and salty parmesan. It’s rich with eggs, so it’s sort of a soufflé.  But it’s bit denser, and a lot less trouble to make.  I served this recently to some almost- teenagers, and I’ve got to tell you I was a little surprised, but they cleaned their plates.

Zucchini Sort of Soufflé

3 medium zucchini

1 medium onion

2 Tablespoons butter

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh oregano

¼ cup milk

4 eggs

¾ cup dry breadcrumbs (purchased work best)

¾ cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 2 quart baking dish.

Cut the ends off the zucchini and cut into large pieces.  With the grating disk on a food processor or the medium holes on a box grater, grate the zucchini.  You should have roughly 6 cups.  Toss the grated zucchini with 1 teaspoon kosher salt in a colander and leave to drain for at least 10 minutes.

While you’ve got the grater out, grate the onion.  If you prefer, you can dice it finely.  Heat the butter and olive oil in a skillet and cook the onion until it is soft and translucent but not brown.  In the last few minutes of cooking, toss in 1 Tablespoon of chopped oregano and stir to combine.  Remove from the heat.

Place the zucchini on a clean tea towel, roll it up, and squeeze out the moisture.  Place the zucchini in a large bowl, add the onion and stir. Measure the milk into a jug, then crack in the eggs and beat together. Add to the zucchini mixture and stir to combine.  Add the bread crumbs and the remaining chopped oregano, a few grinds of black pepper and a sprinkling of kosher salt and stir to combine.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared baking dish and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the top with parmesan.  Bake until puffed and golden, another 10 – 15 minutes.

Serves 6- 8

My favorite summer treat is definitely fresh corn, straight off the cob. I eat more corn in summer than I ought to admit.  Usually just straight up, with a little butter and salt.  When corn starts appearing in the farmers market, I buy bushels of it to put up for the winter. I ration out those little frozen bags of golden jewels like they really are precious gems.  And when I light up the grill, I love to throw on some corn.  Usually way more than my guests and I will eat, so I can cut the leftovers off the cobs and enjoy it later.

Mexican-style grilled corn, or elote, is another one of those food ideas that I read about for years before ever actually trying it.  When I finally did take the plunge, slathering a freshly cooked cob of corn in mayonnaise and rolling it in salty cheese, I was hooked.  This is now my favorite way to eat corn on the cob.  When I started serving it at cook-outs, many friends were reluctant to try mayo on their corn, but the brave ones who did were hooked too.  Now there is an amazing Mexican deli in town that serves elote, and when I hear folks rave about it, I love to say I told you so.

When I have a smaller group of friends to serve, I grill the cobs and put them on a big platter.  Next to that I put a bowl of mayonnaise for spreading, a dish of chili powder for sprinkling, a plate of crumbled cheese for rolling and some lime wedges for squeezing.  Interactive food is always fun.  But with a larger group, that is not always practical, in part because I only have corn cob holders for six ears.  So when planning a larger gathering once, it occurred to me that maybe I could transform the idea into a salad.  It works beautifully, with all the flavor of a traditional elote.  It’s great for a crowd, but is also a great way to take fresh corn along to a party.  If you don’t have the grill going, it is perfectly fine with just-boiled kernels.

Mexican Corn Salad

Cotija cheese is a salty Mexican cheese you’ll find in with other Hispanic cheeses at most god groceries.  If you don’t find cotija, queso fresco is a good substitute.  I prefer to buy blocks and crumble it myself to get even chunks.

¼ cup mayonnaise (or more to taste)                                                                       

Juice of 2 limes

1 teaspoon mild chili powder

½ teaspoon ground cumin

8 ears of fresh corn, shucked and silks removed

1 cup crumbled cojita cheese (about 4 ounces)

Salt to taste

In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, juice of one lime, the chili powder and the ground cumin.  Blend well and set aside.

Cook the corn on the cob. You can bring a large pot of water to the boil, drop in the cobs and bring the water back to the boil.  Remove the pot from the heat, cover it and let the cobs cook for five minutes. If you’ve got the grill going, you can then place the cobs on the grill to get a nice char on the kernels, but its fine if you don’t grill.  When cool enough to handle, cut the kernels from the cobs using a sharp knife.  Place the corn in a large bowl and squeeze over the juice of one lime.  Toss the kernels around to absorb the lime juice.  Add the cotija cheese and toss to combine.  Stir in the mayonnaise dressing to coat all the corn kernels.  Add salt to taste and mix well.

This salad will keep covered in the fridge for 24 hours.

Serves 6 – 8, can be doubled or tripled

Years ago, during my event planning days, I helped a client plan a lovely riverside party, with a good old-fashioned fish fry.  This client was very particular.  About everything.  But particularly about slaw.  He insisted on vinegar-based slaw, not mayonnaise dressed.  The caterer took copious notes on his slaw pronouncements and produced what I (and everyone else who ate it) thought was a lovely slaw.  The client was not pleased however.  He insisted it had mayonnaise in it.  It had a creamy texture, but no mayonnaise.  The caterer explained exactly how it was made – with a vinegar dressing – but he refused to believe there was no mayo.  The rest of the evening was, to say the least, tense.

But all the talk of slaw led to a discussion of slaw preferences among the event staff back in the kitchen.  Everyone had an opinion – mayo, no  mayo, no vinegar, carrots, purple cabbage, green cabbage, bought pre-shredded or handcut.  I was not a real slaw aficionado, so I had no idea there were this many opinions.  Everyone was swapping ideas, writing down notes on napkins and this is the one I wrote down.  The lovely lady that shared this told me, “Honey, this’ll keep crispy in the fridge for weeks.”  I’ve never left it around for weeks, but it will stay nice and crisp through a long weekend.  In fact, that’s one of the reasons I call this picnic slaw, as opposed the ubiquitous creamy barbecue slaw served in every barbecue joint in Memphis.  Because of the vinegar dressing, this slaw holds very well in a cooler or on a picnic table. The salt water soak keeps the vegetables crispy and mellows the bite of the onions and the dressing is sweet-tart with the tang of vinegar and mustard seeds.

Crisp Picnic Slaw

I buy the ingredients for this at the farmers market, and when I saw the purple peppers I knew it would add a nice touch of color, but feel free to use only green.

1 medium head green cabbage

2 bell peppers (green and purple are my choice)

1 medium onion

2 Tablespoons salt

1 ½ cups cider vinegar

1 ½ cups sugar

½ Tablespoon mustard seeds

½ Tablespoon dill seed

Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage, cut it in half and remove the core.  Cut the halves in two, then shred the cabbage on a mandolin or in the food processor using the slicing disc.  Remove the seeds and thick ribs from the peppers, cut into quarters, and slice thinly like the cabbage.  Peel and quarter the onion and finely slice like the cabbage and peppers.  Toss everything together in a very big bowl.

Dissolve the 2 Tablespoons of salt in 8 cups of water.  I find table salt dissolves best.  Pour the salted water over the vegetables in the bowl and stir to distribute everything.  Soak the vegetables for 3- 4 hours, stirring occasionally.  Leave the bowl on the counter while doing this.

Meanwhile, stir the vinegar, sugar and seeds together in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.  Boil for two minutes, then set aside to cool.

Drain the vegetables, shaking out as much water as possible.  Transfer the mix to a clean tea towel, roll it up and ring out as much water as possible from the cabbage.  Rinse and dry the big bowl, then return the cabbage mix, separating it and fluffing it up with your hands.  Pour over the vinegar dressing and toss to coat all the vegetables.  It may look like a lot of dressing, but that’s fine.  Cover the slaw with plastic wrap and refrigerate. The slaw can be eaten as soon as it is cold, but will stay crispy in the fridge for several days.  Serve with a slotted spoon to drain off excess dressing.

This makes a good amount of slaw, and will serve 8 nice big side portions, but many more smaller helpings.

I’ll be honest, I don’t actually know the history of Cinco de Mayo, I just know it’s a perfect excuse for a slap-up Mexican meal, and that is always a good thing.  And there is something so friendly and communal about a Mexican feast.  It’s a great way to gather friends and family, its interactive eating that everyone can enjoy. So for your own celebration, serve up some Smoky Beef Tacos or Green Chicken Chilaquiles, along with a side of Charro Beans.  Start your party off with some Green Chile Cheese Puffs.  And of course, don’t forget the Fresh Citrus Margaritas!

I have found some gorgeous red kidney beans at my local Latin/Asian/Caribbean/Middle Eastern supermarket from Guatemala called Frijol Pilay, but look for any dark burgundy, plump beans. Epazote is a popular dried herb in Mexican cooking, and I have been told that not only does it improve the flavors of beans, it aids in their digestion – and some of the impolite side affects. You’ll find it in the herb and spice section of Latin markets, but I pick it up at Penzey’s.  Mexican oregano has a more distinct flavor than standard (usually Turkish) oregano and is worth having around if you cook a lot of Latin dishes. My favorite restautant charro beans come with diced pieces of jalapeno floating in the broth, but I prefer a halved, cleaned pepper in to flavor the cooking liquid, instead of biting into pieces.  Do what you like, and add another pepper if you like it spicy.

Mexican chorizo is a soft, well-seasoned sausage (Spanish chorizo is hard and dry).  I buy freshly prepared at the Latin market, but it is readily available at many grocery stores.  It can range from mild to spicy, and if it’s labeled, choose mild so you can monitor your own flavor level.

Charro Beans

3 cups dried red kidney beans

1 small onion, diced

1 teaspoon epazote (optional)

1 teaspoon Mexican oregano

1 jalapeno pepper, stem, seeds and ribs removed

5 cloves garlic

Handful cilantro (stems and leaves)

1 pound fresh Mexican chorizo, casings removed if necessary

6 strips bacon, cut into small pieces

Sort through the beans and pick out any that are shriveled or imperfect.  Soak the dried beans in 6 cups of water, uncovered, overnight. The next day, drain the beans, rinse well and place in the crock of a large slow-cooker.  Add 6 cups of water, the diced onion, epazote, oregano, jalapeno pepper and garlic cloves and stir well.  Cover the crock and turn the pot to high, 6 hour setting.

When the beans are halfway cooked (3 hours), sauté the chorizo until brown, breaking it up into small pieces.  Remove to a heavy layer of paper towels on a plate to drain using a slotted spoon.  Drain off the oil, then sauté the bacon pieces until crispy.  Remove the bacon to paper towels to drain.  Pat the chorizo to remove as much grease as possible.  With a good chorizo, it will be bright red, so try not to stain your clothes.  Add the chorizo and bacon to the beans in the slow cooker, stir, replace the cover and continue cooking until the beans are tender.

If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can cook the soaked beans in a large Dutch oven over low-heat for 2 – 3 hours until tender.  Check the beans occasionally and stir to prevent scorching on the bottom, adding water as needed.

Serves 8- 10

Spring is finally here, and one of the first green vegetables to appear is asparagus.  Those tender little stems signal the end of the frosty winter and the hope of more good produce to come.  Treating the first spears simply seems like the right thing to do, after months of braises and stews and root vegetables, what could be more refreshing than simply cooked green goodness.

Sauce Maltaise is a version of the classic hollandaise, made with orange juice rather than strictly lemon.  Traditionally, its blood oranges, and I find that my upscale market usually has the last of the blood oranges and the first of the asparagus at the same time.  If you can’t find blood oranges, a regular juicy orange will do fine.  The sauce takes on a lovely pinkish tint perfect for spring celebrations, and is a great compliment to the bright green asparagus.

Hollandaise has always been a bit of a trick, and despite multiple readings of Julia Child, several classes and many failed attempts, I find the traditional method a bit beyond me.  Too hit or miss really.  Sometimes I get it, and feel triumphant, but more often I don’t and vow never to make hollandaise again.  But this blender method is pretty idiot proof and produces a thick, creamy sauce in minutes.  Just make sure your butter is hot and not at all browned.  And use the best ingredients for this, splurge on some high-fat European-style butter and farm-fresh eggs if you can.  Those bright yellow yolks give such amazing flavor and beautiful color.

As I said, I like to treat the asparagus simply so I give the instructions for a quick boil, but feel free to steam the spears, or even grill them – whatever you prefer.  And the sauce maltaise can be used in any way you use hollandaise – in eggs benedict or on other vegetables.

Asparagus with Sauce Maltaise

1 pound bunch of asparagus

½ cup (1 stick) butter

3 egg yolks

1 teaspoon blood orange zest

2 Tablespoons blood orange juice

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside.

In a pan wide enough to hold the asparagus, bring several inches of water to a boil (enough to fully cover the asparagus.  Break off the thicker, woody stems of the asparagus spears.  When you hold the bottom of the spears and bend, they will naturally snap off at the right place.  Boil the asparagus for 4 -5 minutes until tender, but with a little bite left. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, immediately lift the asparagus into the waiting ice water, submerging completely.  When the asparagus has cooled, remove it from the water, shake off and place in a single layer on a tea towel to dry.  At this point, you may cover and chill the asparagus for several hours.

Make the sauce maltaise immediately before serving the asparagus.  Cut the butter into chunks and place in a small saucepan, one with a pouring spout if you’ve got it.  Melt the butter over medium heat, swirling it around occasionally until it is fully melted but not browned at all.  While it’s melting, place the egg yolks, orange zest, orange and lemon juice and salt in the carafe of a blender.  Whir it around to mix it all together.  When the butter has melted, turn on the blender and slowly drizzle the warm butter into the sauce in a steady stream.  When the butter has all been incorporated, turn off the blender.  You should have an emulsion as thicker than heavy cream.

Serve the sauce maltaise with the asparagus immediately. If absolutely necessary, place the blender carafe in a sink filled with warm water up to the level of the sauce for 30 minutes to keep warm.

Serves 4 – 6, makes ¾ cup sauce

Here’s a helpful springtime tip: If you eat a lot of asparagus, and are always popping off the woody stems, save them in a plastic bag in the freezer until you have a good bag full.  Use them to make a stock for an asparagus soup, which is a particularly good use for the last-of-the-season spears.

Nothing motivates one to get in the kitchen more than a funeral.  We all seem to harbor that primordial need to comfort with food.  And there are fixed ideas – recipes that we keep in mind, or maybe on a card at the front of the recipe box for easy access.  A hearty, comforting dish that we know how to make and how to make well that we can whip up the instant the call comes.  Turkey Tetrazzini? Chicken Divan?  I am sure it varies region to region.  The popular green bean casserole that I understand is a standard part of the traditional Thanksgiving table in many parts of the country is almost universally known in this part of the world as “funeral beans.”  But I don’t think I have every seen a table at a Southern visitation without Tomato Aspic.  The visitation is the reception, frequently the day before, or immediately after the funeral.  It’s a chance for everyone to talk to the bereaved, share memories of the deceased and really get their feed on.  And, equally importantly, for the ladies in the equation to show off their skills in the kitchen.  Friends and family of the recently departed are in the kitchen, bustling around in their funeral best,  maybe an apron thrown on top, looking for serving pieces and saran wrap, deciding what goes on the table and what goes in the fridge for later,

Tomato aspic is made in a mold. And this can vary from person to person.  My mother has a whole collection of aspic molds, from plain round to fancy.  Party aspic is generally formed in a ring mold, so the center can be mounded up with shrimp, chicken salad, mayonnaise (homemade of course), artichoke hearts… You name it, someone has put in the center of an aspic.  This party tomato aspic is always served on a silver tray, usually resting on a bed of lettuce leaves, with parsley around the edge of the tray.  And it is the rare chance to use the silver aspic server that was a wedding gift, or inherited from a grandmother; a silver handle with a flat, round or slightly pointed surface, sometimes plain, sometimes intricately etched.

Though aspic always appears at funerals, it is not the only time it makes an appearance.  For tomato aspic is the mainstay of the ladies luncheon. For this application, it is sometimes made in little individual molds (two sizes of these also appear in my mother’s collection), served on lettuce with a dollop of homemade mayonnaise on top.  Though more often, a slice of aspic is the centerpiece of a three salad plate, the other two salads vary from chicken salad, tuna salad, fruit salad – you get the picture.

I will be honest here, I am not a huge fan of tomato aspic.  I am a polite Southern girl though, and always eat it when it is put in front of me. And I do feel that for full Southern lady credentials, you have to be able to make an aspic. The recipe below is the version I prefer, tailored to my own tastes, with a nice celery tang and plenty of tomato flavor and a minimum of the truly odd ingredients you sometimes see in old recipes.  Members of my family are aspic eaters and they have always given this a thumbs up. 

Tomato Aspic

5 ¾ cups (46 ounces) tomato juice

3 packets unflavored gelatin

½ medium onion, chopped

½ cup chopped celery leaves

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 teaspoon salt

Lightly brush a 5-cup ring mold or equivalent individual molds with flavorless vegetable oil.  This is a vital step – cooking spray doesn’t work well.

Place 2 cups of the tomato juice in a small bowl and stir in the gelatin to dissolve.  Set aside.

Pour the remaining tomato juice into a large saucepan, add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.  Bring to a boil, then simmer reduce the heat, cover the pan and simmer for ten minutes.

Strain the juice into a bowl with a pouring spout. Press on the solids to release any juice then discard.  Whisk in the reserved gelatin mixture until thoroughly combined.  Carefully pour into the prepared ring mold, filling as full as possible.

Very carefully transfer the mold to the refrigerator.  When the aspic has cooled, cover the mold with plastic wrap, then chill until firm, at least 8 hours or overnight.

Unmold the aspic onto an elegant tray, and surround with parsley.

What’s in a name? I have been pondering how to share this recipe for some time now.  It’s a classic I’ve enjoyed my whole life that I’ve always known as carrot pudding.  But I worried that might be a bit misleading. You see, I want people to be intrigued, and to try this recipe, because it is so worth it.  Carrot casserole sounds so boring. I considered calling it a soufflé, but that is a bit grand for this humble dish. So I stuck with pudding.  This is not creamy, cold pudding like the chocolate dessert of childhood.  It’s from a class of Southern traditional dishes, a simple, baked, comforting, homey dish.  I have a repertoire of these puddings.  Corn pudding and chicken pudding and tomato pudding, all savory and all delicious.

But this dish walks the fine line between savory and sweet.  It is usually served as a side dish for a rich meat like pork chops or loin, but I have often had it served as a light luncheon dish for bridal or baby showers.  It is a feature in many of the local community cookbooks around here, and was a regular feature of a certain local caterer for many years.  I have jumped off from those recipes, jazzing things up with a fresh grating of orange zest to add brightness and fresh ginger for zing.  Most recipes I’ve read simply call for “mashed carrots,” and many cooks just boil the carrots and mash them.  But I like to roast them in a little butter to really bring out the carrot flavor and natural sweetness, and I finish in the food processor to speed things up.

Carrot Pudding

2 pounds carrots, peeled (2 yield 2 cups, mashed)

2 Tablespoons plus ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Grated zest of one medium orange

1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup milk

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cloves

Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a 2-quart baking dish.

Cut the carrot into equally sized chunks, and toss with the 2 Tablespoons melted butter on a large rimmed baking tray.  You just want the carrots slightly lubricated, not greasy or swimming in butter.  Roast the carrots for 30 – 40 minutes, until they are soft, but do not let them brown.

Dump the carrots into the bowl of a food processor and process until you have a rough puree.  You may need to start with half the carrots, then add the rest. You want to end up with 2 heaping cups of puree. Leave the puree to cool.

Grate the orange zest and ginger into the carrot puree and blend.  Add the remaining ½ cup melted butter and the rest of the ingredients, and process until smooth and creamy.  Scrape the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

Bake the carrot pudding until firm in the middle and slightly browned around the edges, about 30 – 40 minutes. Serve immediately.  Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave.

Serves 6 – 8