This weekend, Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubilee – sixty years on the throne. When she was crowned (she became Queen when her father died in 1952, but the coronation was June 5, 1953), Britain was still recovering from the wartime devastation, and rationing was still in effect for many foods. But it was, of course, necessary to create and elegant meal to serve … [Read more...] about Coronation Chicken Salad
Summertime Mint Dressing
If I could create my own personal fragrance, or have some sort of mechanism that made everywhere I go have a certain happy, peaceful scent, the primary element would be fresh garden mint. It smells like summer to me. And sweet tea. And the South. And all good things. I suppose the variety is technically spearmint, but I think of it as Southern mint. I have always grown … [Read more...] about Summertime Mint Dressing
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 chicken for frying and whip up desserts galore, from Buttermilk Pie to … [Read more...] about Buttermilk Pecan Chicken with Herb Cream Gravy
Pimento Cheese Crisps
You’ve had pimento cheese on a cracker, now you can have pimento cheese in your cracker. In my on-going quest to eat as much pimento cheese as possible, I arrive at these little gems. They are a hybrid of two Southern party classics – pimento cheese, the pate of the South, and the classic cheese straw. Crumbly and cheesy, with the tang of pimentos and the crunch of pecans, … [Read more...] about Pimento Cheese Crisps
Strawberry and Cream Cookies
The spring obsession with strawberries continues. As the season settles in, I look for other ways to enjoy the little red jewels, as I have almost eaten my fill of them plain from the bowl I keep in the fridge, filled every week at the famers market. And so I turn to baking to find as many ways to enjoy then as possible. My first and best experience with fresh strawberries and … [Read more...] about Strawberry and Cream Cookies
