Eat Arkansas

ann and sylvia's rolls are still THE best. sylvia has been very ill, and they don't do much lately, but they are the Queens.

and Max, I still am trying to process the fact that you were a paid up, "card carrying" Young Repub at W & Lee.

ARK. BLOG: We all have our skeletons.

That rib roast looks delicious! Please share the recipe!

I'm making shrimp pesto tonight. The only heat required is to saute the shrimp and boil the pasta, so I've only got the stove going for 20 minutes or so. Homemade pesto with basil from the rivermarket...yum. Normally I use basil from my own garden, but the herb garden got a little too hot and everything is dead.

ARK. BLOG: I just rub it with a LOT of salt and pepper and some garlic salt, put it on a rack in a roasting pan and cook it for 85-90 minutes in a 350 oven -- 70 minutes or less if I use convection. Generally, when the fat gets good and crusty looking, it's about ready, but I use an instant-read thermometer to check for internal temp, with about 130 preferred. Here, I cooked it in the morning, then, after it cooled to room temp, stuck it in the refrigerator the rest of the day. I poured off the pan juice first to save to warm up with a little beef broth for french dip sandwiches with the leftover, particularly the brown bits and other "debris," as Mother's in New Orleans calls it.

Last night we did some chicken breasts on the grill, sauted some shrooms and tossed in Classico Pesto. The significant other makes a great Ceaser salad (WITH anchovies). Add a bottle of merlot and you have dinner for two.

The intent, of course, was to have a cold pasta salad today, but, sadly, there were no leftovers.

If the missus doesn't like your rolls, tell her to make 'em herself. That roast DOES look good. May have to try that on the Holland grill on the deck to keep the house cool.

Max, I wish I could help with the roll recipe, but don't have much inspiration on that front. I agree with the posters who say your meal looks very good.

I do have a few more hot weather meal suggestions, though. It occurs to me that I cook these dishes seasonally, in part, because the ingredients are available in the hot time of the year, but also, as I think about it, because they provide nourishing meals with a minimum of heat.

Something I cook often in high summer is ratatouille. I am not fussy about preparation or ingredients. If I have a few medium zucchinis, a bell pepper or two (of any color), a large onion, and perhaps some eggplant (though I don't always used it), I combine them with tomatoes into a ratatouille.

I chop the vegetables coarsely, and use canned tomatoes (with their juice) unless there are really good fresh ones. In that case, I don't even peel the tomatoes, because nothing is more fiddly than peeling a tomato.

I heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom or a large skillet (if iron skillets are used, have to keep in mind that the acid in the tomato will affect the seasoning of the pan). When the oil nears but doesn't reach smoking point, I begin sauteeing the harder vegetables first (e.g., the peppers).

Then I add the rest, tossing until they are a bit soft. At that point, I add the tomatoes and throw in several toes of finely chopped garlic, a handful of chopped parsley, some bay leaves, some oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. If the tomatoes need a bit of taming, I add a pinch of sugar, but a very tiny one.

I then cover the pan and turn the heat low and simmer until all is done. This is a dish best eaten the day after it is first cooked, when the flavors have blended together.

We don't have a strong tradition of cold soups in the U.S. I think we could well afford to borrow more of these from cultures that prepare cold soups in summer. I find ratatouille makes a very fine cold soup with a bit of cheese and good French bread for supper.

We also don't have a strong tradition of eating egg dishes for our main meal, but that, too, is a way some cultures manage to provide nourishing main meals in summer with a minimum of cooking. When I have leftover ratatouille, I find myself very frequently making a quick omelet of five or six eggs (for two or three folks).

As the omelet cooks, I heat the leftover ratatouille, and when the omelet is just beginning to set on top, I spoon the heated ratatouille over the top of the omelet, and serve portions right from the pan, slicing the omelet like a pie.

With a simple green salad and a garlicky vinaigrette, a glass of cool white wine, good bread, perhaps a bowl of grated parmesan for those who want to add that to the omelet, one has a hot, balanced, nourishing meal with a minimum of heat. Plus, this is a meal that makes use of vegetables that are abundant in the Southern garden at this time of year.

Sorry on the roll recipe, but thought I'd share this new dish. Last night for dinner I sauted onion, garlic, parsley & basil, added white wine, poached scallops and thinly sliced squash in it seasoned with creole seasoning, and added cheese tortellini to simmer, served with a little grated sheep's milk cheese for bite. Made a light and summery dish.
After a hot day, we've taken to chopping a tomato & cucumber and dressing with pesto and balsamic vinegar.

Great sounding dishes, jlh. I wonder how the scallops and tortellini would be served cold the next day, as a salad? Of course, they sound wonderful as a warm dish, too.

I hadn't thought of adding pesto to a vinaigrette, but that sounds really good, too.

I've been wondering why we (as in many Southern families) tend to serve pimiento cheese as a stuffing for vegetables for "fancy" dinners like Christmas dinner, but not in the height of summer? I can remember my aunt stuffing green olives and celery sticks with pimiento cheese for our relish tray at Christmastime.

Seems to me a lot of vegetables could be stuffed with pimiento cheese and served cold in summer, for a light meal. Or, for that matter, many mixtures of cheeses and herbs, like Liptauer....

Dear Muddling Through,
I am glad to see that others also hold the relish tray in a position of honor at fancy mealtimes. In the Brantley household, it is perhaps the most important dish at Christmas and Thanksgiving (behind the rolls, which are always wonderful). There is even a special crystal dish. Dad will have to post a picture at Christmas. No pimiento cheese, though that's not a bad idea.

It's interesting to me, Martha B., what a role a relish tray plays at those festive meals. I never much thought about it growing up, but you're right, it was one of the most prominent dishes of both Thanskgiving and Christmas.

And it always seemed to have an almost canonical assortment of things, like celery stuffed with pimiento cheese, olives, and cinnamon apple rings. I have never known if these were handed down, or part of my aunt's own peculiar culinary repertoire, since she "did" Christmas dinner for the entire family, as the unmarried daughter.

I've always thought pimiento cheese is one of the great culinary contributions of Southern culture to world cuisine -- maybe not sufficiently appreciated by us, since it seems such standard fare. Whoever first thought of combining mayonnaise, some sharp grated cheddar, chopped pimientos, a little of their juice, and, for my taste, a touch of cayenne and some chopped sweet pickle, was a culinary genius. Even better when the mayonnaise is homemade and has a whisper of Creole mustard in it....

As a native Arkansan, pimento cheese has been something I've been familiar with, but something about the store-bought brand my Mom liked turned me off. Then a couple of years ago, I had some that a friend made from scratch. It was as different from Mom's brand as it could be. I now have a whole new appreciation for it!

EY, I agree with you. Most all the store-bought brands seem insipid and too processed to me -- and probably the cheese often IS processed.

I, too, grew up for the most part with store-bought pimiento cheese, though I believe for special events, my aunt, who somehow got designated family cook, made her own.

The brand my mother got tended to be very sweet, and there was some brand of chicken salad that was made by the same company -- very highly mushed up with a lot of pickle juice.

You really can't beat homemade pimiento cheese, and I find homemade mayonnaise easy to make with a blender. I make it with half olive oil and half some other kind of vegetable oil, and it gives an incomparable flavor to anything that needs

duck breast from Terrys' in the Heights- trim the extra fat off, render on the stove (and save the fat for roast potatoes on another night)- put ground pink pepper corns, herbs de provence, salt, in plastic bag, toss w/ duck breasts, put back in fridge for 2-3 hours then grill on slow heat.
toss Ark squash, fresh garlic and fresh ground black pepper in olive oil, wrap in aluminum foil, roast on grill. Open nice bottle of red, lightly chilled. Think of "dog days. Feel v. v. v lucky to be alive, curse Bush/Cheney for Global Warming

Lots of people's grandmother makes or made the best pimiento cheese, right? Mine did. She would mash my friend Velveeta through the coarse side of a four-in-one into a big mixing bowl, dice up Osage pimientos, and blend in a couple of glops of Kraft mayo. Spread that onto Piggly Wiggly label white bread and you're there. I'd be happy to see a jar of jalapenos nearby. Tomato slices and black pepper on the side.

As a complement to pimiento cheese stuffed celery during the holidays, blend grated romano or parmesan with regular cream cheese and pipe that into celery. It's downright elegant!

Small amount of v finely chopped white or purple onion the the pimento cheese, made w/ a good firm real cheddar

Hugh, I agree: tomatoes are absolutely the right thing with a pimiento cheese sandwich, especially when they're dead ripe and drip out of the sandwich while you eat it.

Hadn't thought of mixing parmesan/romano with cream cheese as a filling, but that sounds good. I intend to try it.

Diogenes, the duck recipe sounds great, and perfect for a hot-weather meal. Grilling's definitely a way to beat the heat, especially if you grill several things on the weekend, eat what you want while it's hot, and save the rest to slice with salad items during the week.

I like a little chopped onion in pimiento cheese occasionally, too, though I think garlic is my seasoning of choice, if I want to fancy it up. I wonder how chopped pecans would be? Or would they lose their flavor in the pimiento mix?

Guess I'm thinking of my grandmother's cheese straws, which weren't straws at all, but cookie-shaped, with a pecan half pressed into the middle of each....And that gets us off the topic of hot-weather food and back to Christmas.