I'm P.C., and I have studied food and cooking around the world, mostly by eating, but also through serious study. Coursework at Le Cordon Bleu London and intensive courses in Morocco, Thailand and France have broadened my culinary skill and palate. But my kitchen of choice is at home, cooking like most people, experimenting with unique but practical ideas.

I live, mostly in my kitchen, in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.

Country Ham Biscuit Bites with Cheese

Country Ham Biscuit Bites with Cheese

My love for biscuits is well documented (13 recipes on the site at last count), and my love of country ham equally evident when you peruse my recipes.  I have always enjoyed a warm, buttery biscuit with a slice of salty country ham tucked inside, so the next logical step seemed to be incorporating [...]

Sweet Potato Angel Biscuits

I do give thanks for biscuits.  And I love a little biscuit bite in the Thanksgiving bread basket, particularly when they are made seasonal with the addition of sweet potato.  These angel biscuits use yeast to get an extra rise, which is helpful when you add the dense potato purée.  Make sure you potato is [...]

Oatmeal Get Up and Go Muffins

When the reality of the new school year and the end of summer hit, having a quick, portable breakfast on hand can be a serious boon.  And these muffins fit the bill.  I often find muffins labeled “healthy” to be leaden gut bombs, but these are light and tender, thanks to the magic of [...]

Fresh Fig Cake with Buttermilk Glaze

A friend recently posted on Facebook that she had some figs lying around and was looking for suggestions on how to use them.  Almost all the comments involved wrapping them with bacon, drizzling them with honey, or slicing them on a pizza.  All of which are delicious suggestions, but a little one-note.  But it [...]

Zucchini Lemon Muffin Gems

Classic zucchini bread is a summer staple for anyone who has a garden or frequents the farmers market.  I always seem to have one extra zucchini lying around.  But I find the typical spiced zucchini bread recipe, though delicious, a little heavy in summer, so I adapted a classic English lemon drizzle bread recipe [...]

Fresh Tomato Buttermilk Biscuits

I spend all my time thinking about food.  When I am not in the kitchen cooking, I am on the computer writing.  When I am driving in the car, I think about how to make them most of fresh seasonal ingredients.  When I lie in bed, before I fall asleep [...]

Blueberry Country Tart with Buttermilk Whipped Cream

I love a dish that looks elegant and skillful, but in actual fact is a breeze to knock together.  And this tart fits the bill.  It plays into that fantasy of one those supposedly last minute dinner parties pictured in glossy magazines, where a pair of perfectly matched hosts and a group of soigné [...]

Buttermilk Pecan Chicken with Herb Cream Gravy

I am a devotee of the transformative powers of buttermilk.  It makes chicken tender and biscuits light.  Cakes have a fine crumb and dressings a nice tang.  I use buttermilk whenever I can, and I go out of my way to buy the best, farm-fresh buttermilk available.  I make biscuits of all sorts, marinate [...]

Boxty (Irish Potato Cakes)

There was a pub I frequented when I was a graduate student in England.  I will admit I didn’t eat there as much as my friends and I took a study break for last call at the bar. But they did serve food.  It wasn’t gourmet, it wasn’t even all that great, but they [...]

Fresh Corn Buttermilk Biscuits

I like books about people who do things.  This summer I have been reading the Little House on the Prairie series, and boy do they do things.  Make their own clothes, their own food – even their own housee.  I have a list of books I have enjoyed that detail the work of women [...]