Tupelo Honey Cafe: Baked Walnut-Stuffed Apples (gluten free optional)

I voted for this recipe because at xmas time I feel like there are a lot of candy treats around, so a nice baked apple with nuts for protein feels healthy.

2 cups walnuts (a cup is 240 milliliters)

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 tbl. all-purpose flour (Zok substituted corn starch as we went gluten free)

1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed

2 tbls. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. found cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 salt

4 large Granny Smith apples

(you can optionally add ice cream when you serve these)

Preheat your oven to 350 f (175 c) and position the rack in the upper third of the oven.

Place walnuts, brown sugar, and flour (or corn starch) in a food processor and process until the walnuts are coarsely chopped, 5 -6 seconds.

Add in your butter, 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice, the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.  Cover and pulse for 4 to 5 seconds, until the mixture clumps together.

Remove the stems from the apples and then cut them into halves - lengthwise.

Use  a spoon to core out the seeds.  Brush the cut surfaces of the apples with the remaining lemon juice. (this prevents browning).

Place your apple halves, with the cut side up , in a glass baking dish.

Spoon the walnut filling into each apple half, dividing it evenly and packing the filling with the back of a spoon.

Bake, uncovered, for 45-50 minutes until the apples are tender.

Serve them warm - with ice-cream if desired.

Tupelo Honey Cafe: Sweet Potato Coconut Bisque, Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluton Free

Sweet potatoes are a vegetable that I think I should like, but when face to face with say 'mashed' sweet potatoes I don't get past a few bites.

However, I love this soup.

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced

4 cups plus 4 1/2 tsps water

1 can of unsweetened coconut milk (our can was 12 oz)

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. pure maple syrup

1 1/2 tsp. honey (of course the book calls for tupelo honey but if you live in Australia, you will have a hard time finding that and besides we say 'go local!'.)

2 1/2 tsp. sea salt (we use Murray River salt)

1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (we used a wee bit of nutmeg/cloves)

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

4 1/2 tsp. cornstarch

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (you could use just paprika if you are adverse to the spice level of cayenne)

In a large saucepan (if you really get into soups, and stews like chili, a good investment is a cast iron/ceramic coated saucepan- larger is always better because everything has room to cook evenly).

combine the sweet potatoes and 4 cups of water over high heat, bring this to a boil, and boil for about 20 minutes, or until your potatoes are tender.

Then reduce your heat  to medium and then using a potato masher, mash the potatoes in your pot.

Now, add in the coconut milk, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, salt and spices and lastly your ground pepper.

Stir and simmer this for about 15 minutes or until you notice the soup thickening.

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and the remaining 4 1/2 tsp. of water to form a thick paste.

Add this mixture and your cayenne pepper to the soup and reduce heat to low and cook for about 5 minutes longer (or until the soup coats the back of a spoon).

Now use a hand held mixture to puree the soup (while it is still in the pot) to a smooth consistency.

(You could also in small batches transfer the soup to a stand mixer or processor).

Now your soup is ready to serve!

 

Tupelo Cafe: Nutty Fried Chicken (gluten free optional)

Zok loves a recipe that calls for 'buttermilk'.  If you want any frying tips please look at the fried chicken blog entry here:

southern fried chicken 

Zok said that this recipe is not like the southern fried chicken in taste- although the process is similar.  This time he sort of 'filleted' or cut each chicken breast, so that it was smaller and therefore easier to cook all the way through. An added bonus of these smaller cuts was as our guest Sofia mentioned "gives a better chicken to tasty coating ratio."

6 (6-ounce/250 grams) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 cups buttermilk (300 ml)

2 cups panko bread crumbs

2 cups roasted and salted mixed nuts

2 cups canola oil

Marinate the chicken in  the buttermilk in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (Zok marinated his for 3 hours but only because our building lost power for two hours...he does think that it is worth it to do an overnight marinate if you want to make sure your chicken is moist).

Combine the bread crumbs (Zok used gluten free store bought bread crumbs)

and nuts in a food processor and grind until fine.  In a cast-iron skillet, heat your oil to 325 f. (Zok says if you cast in a pinch of your nut/bread crumb mixture and it sizzles then you know its ready.

Take your chicken pieces and one by one dredge them through the mixture to coat them well  and then fry each piece for about 4-5 minutes on each side- this should give you a golden brown color (Zok let his go a bit longer- he says its all individual choice).

Use paper towels to drain the oil by putting each piece on the towels  as you cook, this gets rid of excess oil.

This recipe is meant to go with milk gravy and mashed sweet potatoes.

All meat eaters heartily approved of this combination.

 

 

 

Tupelo Honey Cafe: Southern Fried Chicken Breasts (Gluten Free Optional)

This recipe as I will write it up is for four people, with 4 (6 ounce/ 170s g.)

Zok however - always makes a bit extra- Here Zok has used the Gluten-free all purpose flour made by Red Mill.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups canola oil (here we use raps which is rapeseed oil, which is the base of most European vegetable oils)

2 cups all-purpose flour (or the gluten free flour of your choice)

3 tbl. cornstarch

1 1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Marinate the chicken in the buttermilk overnight in the refrigerator.  

Combine the flour, cornstarch, salt and pepper in a large bowl and put aside-

  

 Then place the oil of your choice in your cast iron skillet (this really should be made in a cast-iron skillet- but if you don't have one you can use the pan of your choice)

Bring the oil to bubbling - over medium heat (or about 325 F).

You want to coat your chicken- as you are putting them into the pan

Drain the chicken and discard the buttermilk -

Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture until well coated.  Fry the chicken in the hot oil for 4 to 5 minutes per side, until golden brown.  

*Notes:
Zok did not weigh his chicken- so a few had to be cut thinner- this of course meant more of the coating per piece- which was an audience pleaser.
 There was a bit of left over coating - but perhaps better to have too much than too little, however, you can't really re-use the coating.
All meat eaters agreed that the soaking in the buttermilk made for really tender chicken.
Zok made a milk-mushroom gravy (vegetarian) which is what you see under the chicken breast.

Tupelo Honey Cafe; Buttermilk Biscuits

I would like to take a moment to brag about my friend Zok-

He was raised mostly on Macedonian food (we plan to feature some recipes here, as soon as we find the time) in Australia.

Later he moved to Sweden where cuisine is pretty much restrained by the type of produce that can be imported.  When we are in Tasmania we are as the Australians would say 'spoiled for choice' - the produce we grow at home is so good, really a person could be happy just eating it all raw.

Zok enjoys cooking and I have gone out of my way to try and introduce new types of cooking-as we seem to spend ages cooking, eating, and cleaning up.  Of course- the best of times is when people come over to eat with us.

My point here, really is that Zok does an amazing job making foods that are completely foreign to him, like these biscuits.

How foreign are these biscuits to Australia? Well, let me tell you Australia has the 'KFC' chain but they don't serve biscuits.  Perhaps this is good, as I think it would be sad if one's only reference was the fast food/chain version of these.

Don't get discouraged if it takes a few tries to get these 'consistently' perfect- they have a careful balance, like a good pie crust- it takes time to learn.

That said, Zok's first try was almost perfect.

If you get to Asheville  (cue song) do not miss going to the Tupelo Honey Cafe, where they in true American fashion, give you free, warm, biscuits as you peruse your menu. 

"...when you get to Asheville...send me an email..."

Here is the recipe. It rocks.

2 cups self rising flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup of chilled shortening, cut into pieces (in Europe/AU shortening comes chilled and we tend to grate it) but if you are using crisco- then you should chill it.

1/2 cup heavy cream (this is not a diet food)

1 cup buttermilk

Melted butter (go the 'whole hog' and melt that butter!)

Preheat the oven to 425 f./ 220 c

Position an oven rack slightly below the center of the oven.  Lightly butter a round cake pan or cast-iron skillet

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, sugar and salt.

If you don't want to grate your shortening what is recommended is "snap the pieces of shortening with your fingers until the shortening pieces are no larger than peas.

Make a well in the mixture and pour in the cream and 2/3 cup of your buttermilk

Using your hands or a rubber spatula, sweep in the flour and turn the dough until the dry ingredients are moistened and the dough resembles cottage cheese. If it isn't keep adding in the remaining 1/3 cup of buttermilk until you reach this consistency.

Sprinkle your rolling surface with flour.  Turn the dough out onto the surface and then sprinkle the dough with flour as well.

Flour your hands and then fold the dough in half and pat the dough into a width of about 1/3-1/2 inch thickness

Fold again and pat the dough to achieve a 1 inch. thickness

(Use sprinkling of flour as needed- so if you don't get the width the first time, start again, but use the sprinkling of flour all over again)

When you have your 1 inch thickness

Dip a 2-inch round (5 centimeters) biscuit/cookie cutter in your dough, (do not twist your cutter, straight down and up)

Place your biscuits in your pan sides touching.

Brush the tops with melted butter and then bake for 15-20 minutes , until a light golden brown.

This might be best achieved if you rotate your pan after 6-8 minutes

Remove from oven when golden brown and brush once more with melted butter

 

Chicken (or tofu!) Pot Pie

Perhaps I wanted to have this dish because in 2013 I missed out on autumn all together- but I got a craving for vegetable pot pie 

We couldn't find a recipe we liked, but Zok felt puff pastry was key, and I just wanted a sort of tofu/veg/gravy  interior so Zok just winged it, as if he was making a soup- I would say the pies were almost too savory but Zok disagrees

Zok in truth used 2 vegetable stock cubes to the 500 mil of water, and I would used one

This is a great sort of left-over or clear out the vegetable crisper type of recipe as you really can't go wrong - it is too easy

Mushrooms

Carrots

Onion

Garlic

Tofu

Fried Chicken (optional)- but Zok is really happy with his new skillet from North Carolina so any excuse to fry something...

Peas

Butter

Egg (to coat your topping)

Puffed Pastry Sheets (ready to cook)

Gravy

First melted 50 g of butter into a large pot

Add in chopped onion (about half of a medium brown onion)

Saute for 2 minutes

Add in diced carrots (2 medium)

Add in 3-4 thinly sliced mushrooms

1 clove crushed garlic

Saute until vegetables get a bit soft and fragrant

Add in salt and pepper

Any herbs you might want 

1/3 cup of plain flour

Saute - stirring constantly for about 3 minutes

1/2 cup of milk

mix and bring to boil

then add

500 ml of vegetable stock (use your already made stock you've jarred up, frozen or the ever helpful vegetable stock cube - any will do)

Mix well and bring back to boil

add in tofu (or chicken)

then the mixture should quickly reduce to a gravy thickness

fill your desired cookware, (Zok was super excited to use as many types as possible)

fill to about 1 in. below the top

Place them all into the refrigerator to cool for about 15-20 minutes

Meanwhile

Take out your puffed pastry sheets and cut to overlap your cookware

 Zok would say to cut your air slits now

Then mix up on egg and get a pastry brush or something to use

Then pull out your cooled cookware

Coat the edges (rim) with a bit  of the egg wash

Cover with pastry

Brush the tops with egg wash

20 minutes 180 C (or about 400 f) or until golden brown

(Remember to always pre-heat your oven to the correct temperature before placing your food in to cook)