This week, the farmers market was looking a little forlorn as summer moves into fall. The tomatoes and beans are fading, but the winter squash and pumpkins aren’t quite in yet. But I did find a nice treat at one of the stalls. Raw peanuts. Nice, big fat ones just waiting to be boiled up. A big ol’ batch of goobers. Boiled Peanuts are a love-or-hate kind of thing. They … [Read more...] about Boiled Peanuts
Chicken, Prosciutto and Rosemary Lasagna
A rut-buster. That’s what this recipe is all about. Veering off the road a little bit, getting out of the ordinary. Traditional lasagna is a good thing, make no mistake, but it’s nice to go in a different direction every once in a while. Move away from the meat sauce to a creamy white lasagna, laced with salty prosciutto. This lasagna is rich and … [Read more...] about Chicken, Prosciutto and Rosemary Lasagna
Pasta Butter Balls
One lazy evening, on a desperate-for-dinner freezer scrounge, I came across a half used log of frozen herbed butter – a beurre composée if you will. I like to make these with the summer glut of herbs and roll them into waxed paper wrapped logs. This butter has myriad uses, but I mostly use it for grilling. When you have a really good piece of meat, simply grilled, it doesn’t … [Read more...] about Pasta Butter Balls
Simple Watermelon Feta Salad
This is hardly a recipe, more like a set of instructions, but I wanted to share it before this long weekend of picnics and cookouts and gatherings, because it is so good and so simple and so perfect for this last official weekend of summer. I first had this in South Africa several years ago, as part of a big beautiful lunch spread at a safari camp. I was impressed by its … [Read more...] about Simple Watermelon Feta Salad
Brilliant Baked Beans
Baked beans are almost a staple here. I cannot think of a barbecue place in Memphis that doesn’t serve beans on the side. And if you live in Memphis, you eat barbecue. Some places stir in bits of pulled pork shoulder, some make the beans with their house barbecue sauce, some throw in jalapenos. And of course, some places have better beans than others. But when you … [Read more...] about Brilliant Baked Beans
