Tasting Nashville

Thanksgiving Treats

2010-11-24T14:48:00.000-08:00

Hi there folks so sorry it has been almost a year since a post here but I promise to do better! Starting right now.

Many of you have found me from facebook thank you so much glad to see you here. Others may have stumbled here or got sent here looking for something else.

This blog is just what it says Tasting Nashville. I am constantly looking for Nashville's Flavor be it food or culture. If you have something that you feel is "Nashville" please feel free to shoot me a message and I'll check it out.

The first of my most asked for recipes is Lynne's 100 Year Old Pie Crust

I do urge and caution you to follow the directions EXACTLY! Like I've said before you can fidget with some recipes but there are some that are perfect just the way they are, this is one of them.

Going down the list of most requested is my:
Lynne's Southern Pecan Pie

There is really no uber secret to this pie other than the crust which is above.

I have worked and tweeked this basic recipe to suit our family taste. All changes will be ()'ed

350 degree's for 1 hour. (At the point your ready to cook the pie you can do one of two things with the crust either cover it now for 30 minuets then uncover or cook for thirty than cover, just depends on what you like)

3 eggs
3/4 cup light Karo
2 Tablespoons dark Karo
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter (let cool before adding to eggs I use Kerry Gold Irish Butter better flavor)
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I use closer to a cup)

Enough halved pecans to line the bottom of the crust as well as the top.

(If you like a more traditional pecan pie you can skip the chopped nuts and the ones that line the bottom of the crust and just top it)

Mix up the Karo, sugar and eggs let sit while you roll out the pie crust and line the bottom of the pie shell. Pour in the filling just just below the rim of your pinched crust like half of the tip of your little finger.

Place the halved pecans in circles starting with the outside ring working towards the middle. There is no real reason for this other than looks. If you line the bottom of the crust do the same..

We like a nut filled middle so we add the chopped and the halves. You can add or subtract nuts to your families taste.

Our next entry we will share the coveted Pecan Pie cupcakes!

My go to pie crust.

2009-12-11T14:31:00.000-08:00

This pie crust recipe is older than I am. It comes from relatives of my Uncles in Iowa.

I have used this crust for pot pies, sweet potato pie, fruit pie and my special Deep Dish Southern Pecan Pie. I have yet to find something this pie crust doesn't hold up to. It makes a great tart crust, pinwheels etc.

A few hints: Do not substitute you will be disappointed. Use Crisco that comes packaged in large sticks. It is the easiest way to measure shortening I've found.

Lynne's 100 Year Old Pie Crust

4 cups all purpose flour spooned in to the cup
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cup Crisco (room temp)
1 tablespoon vinegar or white cider
1 large egg
1/2 cup water

Mix the first 3 ingredients till crumbly.
Mix the egg, water, vinegar in a small bowl then add to the crumbly mixture.
Divide the dough in quarters and chill at least 30 minutes before rolling out.

Crust may be frozen for up to a year.

To thaw place in refrigerator to thaw 24 hours before using.

Please enjoy making and using this pie crust. It has graced holiday tables in our family for 30+ years. I hope it graces your table and many more for years to come.

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Lynne Blaisdell

Little kitchen helps we all should know.

2009-09-30T09:01:00.000-07:00

As I venture in to the world of culinary creativity in my home I've found that there are little everyday hints and helps that make cooking easier. This is a list of things that I use. If you have a kitchen tip that makes your life easier please add it here.

1. Your best friend and worst enemy in the kitchen can be your knife set. Spend that extra on a good set of knives. I recently replaced my knives with a Chicago Cutlery set. You can use any knife that fits your budget. Two essential knives to have in your kitchen would be a chefs knife and a good paring knife. With these two implements you can cut anything you can imagine.

It is extremely important to keep your knife edge honed. My set came with a hone. Use it every time you use your knife this will prevent the knife from becoming dull and unusable. If your knife becomes too dull you may need to get it professionally sharpened. You can sharpen your knives at home, make sure you purchase a good quality sharpener.

2. Metal measuring spoons. I find that these spoons are much more accurate and easy to find in my "everything" drawer. I keep two sets on hand. I like the sets that are linked together that way your not scrabbling around your everything drawer to find the size you need.

3. Use a chopstick to level off your dry measurements like flour, sugar, salt, anything that you dry measure. I keep several sets of the take away sets. I actually keep one in my flour canister that way I've always got it when I need to get a level measurement.

4. Don't be afraid of using butter. There are just some things you create in your kitchen that deserve butter.

5. Keep a bottle of extra virgin olive oil next to your stove. It's got great health properties and flavor. I use it when frying eggs and in cakes and my bread recipes.
Remember with olive oil that the lighter the oil the less "olive" taste. I like to use a dark olive oil in salad dressing and in Italian dishes.

6. Don't be afraid to try something new. I just taught my self how to poach eggs. Shortly after Hubs and I were married I tried to make a chocolate cake from scratch like Grandma's. Needless to say it was a hot mess. I used cake pans that were too small and the batter grew over the edges of the pan and hit the heating element and started a fire in the oven. I was my first kitchen disaster. But I got right back on the horse and kept cooking.

7. When baking bread always use a bread flour. I have actually starting using bread flour for all my cooking.

8. If your looking to cut your calories and eat fun food try the "Hungry Girl 200 for 200" book. It has 200 recipes for under 200 calories. I find that when I'm home and cooking for my self I am not always careful about cooking/eating healthy. The Hungry Girl cook book is my newest eating for one handbook.

9. Have fun. Edit, change and adapt recipes to YOUR taste. Just because your using a famous chefs recipe doesn't mean that you can't change it to suit your family or your taste. I use recipes as a stepping stone to get me started.

Adventures in Baking and Requests

2009-08-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

First things first. You can now find Tasting Nashville as a group on Facebook. As soon as the group grows enough we will start a Tasting Nashville profile.

I have always wanted to bake like my Grandma Hughes. I grew up on fresh peach pies, homemade chocolate cakes and cookies as well as my most favorite thing in the world fresh baked bread. I'm not sure about other homes growing up but in our house fresh baked bread never lasted long enough to cool down.

My favorite childhood memories are of watching grandma in the kitchen baking. Several months ago while at the Nashville Fair Grounds Flea Market I ran into one of the best deals of my life. I found a brand new Breadman Ultimate bread machine for $10.00, these machines can retail for over $120.00.

Finally I would have bread success. My attempts to do it the old fashion way were met with a gooey mass of what was suppose to be golden loaves of bread. That I'm afraid is one of the many pitfalls of apartment cooking, but that is a tale for another day.

Last week I began my bread journey. I started with just a simple white bread 2lb loaf. Needless to say I didn't wait for my husband to get home to try it. Tho most of it was left when he did get home. I went on from there to try a french bread loaf. The only change I made to the recipe's was using olive oil instead of regular veggie oil. For the french bread loaf I added a some garlic and herbs to the oil and let it sit to infuse the oil then added it to the recipe. It made for a wonderfully savory addition to our Spaghetti night.

As I mentioned above Tasting Nashville now has it's own group on Facebook. I have been posting pictures and talking about my bread baking success there. I recently had a request from an old friend for Jalapeno Cheddar Bread. She apparently has fresh jalapenos coming out of her ears.

I love to cook but from my father I've learned that sometimes you have to adapt, and adjust recipes to suit your taste. So I searched for a quick and easy Cheddar Jalapeno Bread. I found cheddar bread and I found jalapeno bread but couldn't find ONE recipe that fit all of the requested items. Until I turned up a recipe that would allow the addition of cheese...

WARNING: I have NOT tried this specific recipe but it uses the white bread base that I have tried and that was fabulous.

The following contains recipe amounts for either a 1lb, 1.5lb or 2.0lb loaf. If using a bread machine use the white bread setting for the size loaf you choose.

JALAPENO BREAD

Ingredients: 1 LB 1.5 LB 2 LB

Water, 80°F/27°C 1/2 cup 3/4 cup 1 cup

Oil 1-1/2 TBL 2-1/2 TBL 3 TBL

Canned Whole Kernel Corn,

well drained 1/2 cup 3/4 cup 1 cup

Jalapeno Peppers,

well drained 2 TBL 3 TBL 1/4 cup

Sugar 2 tsp 2 TBL 2-1/2 TBL

Salt 1/4 tsp 1 tsp 1-3/4 tsp

Bread Flour 2 cups 3 cups 4 cups

Corn Meal 1/3 cup 1/2 cup 2/3 cup

Fresh Cilantro,

chopped 2 tsp 1 TBL 4 tsp

Active Dry Yeast 1-3/4 tsp 2 tsp 2-1/4 tsp

Shredded Cheese to taste start with 1/2 cup for a 1lb loaf 3/4 cup for 1.5lb loaf and 1 cup for 2lb loaf. Of course you can add or subtract to taste.

If your machine has a rapid cycle exchange as follows

Select Rapid White Cycle

Active Dry Yeast 2-1/2 tsp 2-3/4 tsp 1 TBL

A New Fish Dish

2009-08-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

Not long ago Hubby and I were out shopping and came across a sample of a fish that neither of us have ever tried. Not saying much for Hubby he didn't eat seafood and/or fish until I started cooking for him.

We tried the sample of the fish was wonderful. So good in fact that I purchased some of the fish AND the lemon pepper seasoning that the demonstrator used in cooking the fish.

Our mystery fish is called Striped Pangasius.

When we got it home I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. The first couple of times I used my toaster over and broiled it with the lemon pepper and a simple tarter sauce.

Then in a stroke of simple culinary cooking.

Once again I was wandering around my kitchen with out a clue what to do for dinner. I found a sack of potatoes, some onions and some carrots.

Roasted Veggies and Broiled Pangasius
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours varies by oven

WHAT YOU NEED:
Pre Heat Oven to 350-400 degrees F
3 to 5 Potatoes depending on size
Crinkle Cut Carrots
1 Red Onion
Striped Pangasius
Olive Oil
Rosemary
Salt
Pepper
Lemon Grass Paste (can be found at Publix)
9 by 13 glass pan you can use smaller or larger depending on how many people you are going to feed.

The amount and type of veggies/fish depends on what you like.

Peel and slice potatoes 1/4 inch or smaller layer in bottom of dish drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper and rosemary
Layer carrots
Cut onion in half then separate and layer over carrots drizzle olive oil and add salt, pepper, and rosemary.
If desired add another layer of potatoes drizzle and add salt, pepper and rosemary

Roast in oven until potatoes and carrots can be pierced with a fork but NOT soft and mushy this usually takes anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half dependent on your oven. When the potatoes and carrots are almost done begin to prepare your fish.

You can prep the Pangasius several ways our favorite is to rub with Lemon Grass Paste then place on top of the veggies and turn on broiler and cover pan with foil for approximately 10 minutes then uncover and let fish brown slightly.

The finished dish:

Welcome, come in sit down a spell and enjoy

2009-08-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome Ya'll come on in and put your feet up and enjoy or adventures in finding our own "Nashville flavor".

Since moving to Tennessee and more specifically the Nashville area I have come to love the many types and styles of food culture you can find here in Nashville.

Nashville is a crossroads of culture from traditional Southern cooking to Asian fine dining and Middle Eastern fair. This is my journey into creating my own Nashville flavor.

This is will a journey in to simple, flavorful easy to make home cooking, as well as some of our favorite local restaurants and places to go while your here in the "Athens of the South".

We will be posting restaurant reviews, recipe's and invite those of you we know and love to share some of your favorite places and things to eat.