A Trip to the South

You, my dear friend, have no idea...of how long...I've been craving soul food.  Really.  You have no idea. 

Omg, just the words themselves: "ribs," "catfish," "cornbread," "greens," "mac n' cheese," "peach cobbler," "sweet potato pie." Ah!  Shier torture!  But, alas, its happening.  Finally! 

My mother has agreed.  I'm so happy! 

So tonight for dinner we're having fried catfish, cornbread, beet greens, and sweet potato pie. 

I'm in charge of the cornbread and sweet potato pie.  Haven't attempted either yet.  HOPEFULLY it'll turn out.  My resources are limited at the moment, so I'll be using Trader Joe's GF Pancake Mix.  For the cornbread and  the pie crust.

After reading that you probably just thought of something along the lines of, "Oh..."  And my response to that is, "Yeah...I know."  If it doesn't turn out I'm going to go by Julia Child's words, "No apologies!  No excuses!"

What can I say?  I will have tried my best.  And besides, you can't make discoveries without experimenting.  Am I not correct...?

                        Fortunately enough for me, the cornbread was delish! 
This is the original: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/golden-sweet-cornbread/detail.aspx.  Here's my version...my family really, really liked it :-).  *If you use the pancake mix don't add xanthan gum. 

GF DF Sweet Cornbread

-1 cup GF Pancake Mix
-1 cup Yellow Cornmeal
-2/3 cup White Sugar
-1 tsp Salt
-3 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
-1 Egg
-1 cup Almond Milk
-1/3 cup Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven 400F.  Combine GF mix, cornmeal, sugar, and baking powder.  In a separate bowl combine the egg, almond milk, and vegetable oil.  Combine oil mixture with cornmeal mixture.  Pour into a 8*8 square inch pan.  Bake 20-25 mins.

Now for the pie...

 I learned something new today and perhaps humbled a little. I hear how it’s such a challenge to make a good GF pie crust. I basically thought to myself “what’s so hard about it? It’s like anything else.”

Wrong. When I made a tart crust for a quiche I had used Bob’s Redmill, which acts like wheat four when it comes to pie dough.

For this particular pie I wanted something that would carry more of a buttery flavor. Bean flours don’t. So I thought I would use the pancake mix from Trader Joe’s...because that's all I had. Ha.

1) Different flours react differently. That should have been a no brainer for me.

2) You need to check the ingredients of any prepackaged GF flour mix. Not just for xanthan gum but for baking soda and salt too.

But everything turned out! I would have to say that this pie has a nice combo of a smooth yet powerful filling, resting on top of a fluffy and very light crust. Yuuummmm!!!

I have to be honest with you guys. And some of you may hate me for it, but I must confess. I do not like Martha Stewart. I’m sorry, I just don’t! There’s just something about her I just don’t like…

But her recipes are the BOM! One day, my mom wanted a recipe for a quick Chili con Carne. She couldn’t find what she was looking for. I suggested Martha’s web. She didn’t think she would find anything but went anyways. And lo and behold, bam, there it was: “Quick Chili con Carne.” When in doubt, Martha Stewart will figure it out.

Not crazy about her but you gota hand it to the woman, she’s got this whole foodie network thing figured out. You may think, “Well, yeeeah duuhh…She’s Martha Stewart...” I have no comment in response to that. I mention Martha because we’re going to be using one of her recipes for Sweet Potato Pie :-) 





http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/sweet-potato-pie But I’m here to share a GF DF version with you. Just an FYI moment: My pie crust is completely different from hers. Good Stuff.

GF DF Sweet Potato Pie

Crust

-1 ½ cup GF All-purposed Flour (use something with neutral flavors) ***
-1/2 tsp xanthan gum
-1/4 cup sugar
-9 tbsp Earth Balance (cold)
-2 Egg Yolks
-2 tbsp Almond Milk

Filling

-2 large Sweet Potatoes (or canned in light syrup 29oz.)
-1/2 cup Earth Balance room temp
-2 Eggs
-1/2 tsp Allspice
-1 tsp ground Cinnamon
-1/2 freshly ground Nutmeg
-2 tsp Vanilla Extract
-juice of half a Lemon

Preheat oven to 375. In a food processor combine flour and sugar until blended. Add butter and blend until it becomes a coarse consistency. Add yolks, process for 30 seconds and then add milk. Process until it just becomes smooth. Spread into a 9 inch pie pan. Poke with fork to allow venting. Bake until the pie shell is firm. Approximately 20 min. or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

If you actually bought the whole, raw sweet potato I wouldn’t waste my time with the entire steaming process. Just zap them in the microwave. Once cooked or from the can, in a mixer beat until they’re well mashed and the stringy fibers have wrapped around the attachment. Clean attachment. On low speed add the butter until combined and slightly cooled. Slowly add sugar. Once combined add spices, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Pour into crust and bake for 45-50 min. or until the center has set.

***If you use the Trader Joe’s Pancake Mix don’t add xanathan gum. It already has it.