Southern Caesar + Cornbread Croutons

I've had this dish written on a piece of paper on my desk for, like, six weeks now. It's next to scrawled notes that read stuffed hush puppies, boiled peanut cmilis (I can't read my writing), and Carolina Gold arancini. I'll get around to those eventually, but I sure am glad I made this particular dish tonight because it's an unexpected marriage that actually works. The creole mustard and the cornbread take this salad way down South for a trip you're not likely to forget...especially if you make it using my Smoked Cheddar Jalapeño Cornbread. 





Southern Caesar Salad + Cornbread Croutons
(serves 4 as a first course)


4 cups cubed cornbread
juice from 1/2 lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon creole mustard
2 tablespoons  mayonaise
1 medium garlic clove (minced)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire
1 teaspoon local honey
pepper to taste
6 cups chopped romaine lettuce (about 7 ounces)

1/2 cup grated parmesan (to garnish)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cornbread cubes on a parchment-lined sheet pan in a single layer. Put cornbread cubes into the oven for a total of fifteen to twenty minutes or until golden brown. In a large bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, mustard, mayonnaise, garlic, worcestershire sauce, honey, and pepper. Using tongs, toss the romaine lettuce and the cornbread croutons in the dressing. Divide among plates and garnish with parmesan.

Smoked Cheddar and Jalapeño Cornbread

The worst insult that any can give your cornbread in the South is that it's "just a little dry." No one will ever say that about my version. I've packed with good stuff like buttermilk, local honey, and best of all, smoked cheddar. The smoked cheddar gives the cornbread an authentic quality that's missing in many bacon-grease-less cornbread recipes.


Smoked Cheddar and Jalapeño Cornbread
(serves 4-6)

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup smoked cheddar
1/8 cup minced jalapeño (1 large, optional)
1/4 cup butter + 1 tablespoon
2 tablespoons local honey
2 eggs (beaten)
1 cup buttermilk

Place a 10-inch cast-iron skillet into a cold oven and preheat it to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the cornmeal, 
all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, cheddar, and jalapeño. In a medium bowl, melt 1/4 cup of the butter. Add the honey, eggs, and buttermilk to the melted butter and whisk. 


Next, add the wet ingredients to the dry. Stir until just incorporated. Using a sturdy, reliable oven mitt, carefully remove the hot cast-iron skillet from the oven and place it onto a trivet. Place the remaining tablespoon of butter into the skillet and swirl it or use a silicone brush to coat the bottom of the pan. Pour the batter into the pan and place the pan into the oven for twenty to twenty-five minutes. Run a knife around the edge and turn the cornbread out onto a cutting board. Serve hot with beans and black eyed peas.

Smoked Coconut Bacon + 3 Quick Questions with Chef Jesse Kimball

When I first heard about coconut bacon, I pinballed around the internet to see what I could find. I landed on The Food Network site and watched a video of Chef Jesse Kimball of The Memphis Tap Room, which is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, make this amazing looking, crunchy, smoky, non-bacon bacon.

I have been looking for a vegetable medium or process that will have that crispy crunch like bacon. Along the way, I've stumbled upon some pretty cool things, but I think that this coconut idea is the Holy Grail. So, inspired by Chef Jesse's brilliant idea, I whipped up a batch using a bag of shaved coconut we had in the pantry. I added soy sauce, vegetarian worcestershire, and maple syrup to the mix for that sweet Southern bacon-y flavor. And, hey, it worked! The coconut takes the smoke beautifully, and when it's baked, it the inherent fat in the coconut crisps the flakes. The best part is that they stay crispy. You can make a big batch of this and have it for lunch all week.

We have used this many different ways since first making it: as a garnish for an omelette, on pesto flatbreads, and on top of grits, but my favorite has to be my avocado BLT. All you do is load up two slices of seeded whole wheat with sliced heirloom tomatoes, olive oil mayo, crunchy romaine, sliced avocado, and plenty of Smoked Coconut Bacon. It's beautiful to hear the crunch of the bacon when you slice the sandwich in half.

At the Memphis Tap Room, Chef Jesse Kimball has half of his menu devoted to delicious vegan and vegetarian food. He serves a Smoked Coconut Club with lemon garlic tofu and herbed mayo. It's good enough to win over anyone's palate. I wanted to know more. Luckily, Chef took a few minutes to chat with me.

The Chubby Vegetarian: You're not a vegetarian, but you have an interest in vegetarian food. Where does that come from? Was it to impress a girl?

Jesse Kimball: I have been vegetarian and vegan at different times, and my parents are vegetarians, so it has been a part of my life. When we opened a bar (Memphis Tap Room) specializing in craft beer, we put an emphasis on food that craft beer drinkers like, and a population of them are vegan/veg, so we wanted them to be happy. I love cooking vegan food cause I can really use proper techniques, but just change the ingredients.

TCV: What lead you to the coconut? It couldn't have been the first thing you thought of, or was it?

JK: I was up in the Catskills and smoked some walnuts. I was amazed by how "porky" they were. I made a big batch for Christmas gifts, and when we opened here, I was using the smoked walnuts in a country gravy to go on biscuits and in a salad. We also made a sandwich with smoked avocado, lettuce and tomato, and a brown sugar roasted tomato mayo. I wasn't totally happy with that sandwich -- 
it lacked the texture that the coconut gives the sandwich. One of the cooks here told me the punk rock vegans were pouring liquid smoke on young coconut and calling it bacon, so that got me thinking. In NYC, the peanut vendors have these smoky little carts with honey roasted nuts and coconut, so I applied the bacon-making technique with the smoked walnuts using shaved coconut, and the result was great. Actually curing the coconut and smoking it gives it a great bacon-like quality. I never tried the liquid smoke technique because I don't like liquid smoke.

TCV: You work at a place in Philly called the Memphis Tap room. What does the name Memphis evoke north of the Mason-Dixon?

JK: We're just on Memphis Street here in Philly. It doesn't have anything to do with Egypt or Tennessee. You're more likely to hear Elvis Costello here than that other guy. I'm a record guy, so the name Memphis evokes Sun, Stax and Goner, The Oblivians, The Reatards. It's been a while now, but sorry for your loss on that one. Oh yes, and that movie Mystery Train.


Smoked Coconut Bacon
(makes 3 1/2 cups)


3 1/2 cups coconut flakes (available at Whole Foods in the baking aisle)
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetarian worcestershire
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon  liquid smoke (only of you don't smoke the coconut on the grill top)
 
Smoke the coconut flakes for four minutes using my grill-top method. Four minutes don't sound like a long time, but the coconut really soaks up the smoke quickly. This ain't no pork belly, y'all!


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the smoked coconut into a large mixing bowl and add the maple syrup, soy sauce, pepper, worcestershire, and sesame oil. (Only add the liquid smoke if you didn't smoke the coconut. This is just an option for people without access to a smoker.) Toss to coat. Spread the dressed coconut into a single layer on a parchment-lined 12-by-17-inch sheet pan or two smaller pans. Cook coconut for ten minutes, stir it around and spread it back out on the sheet pan, and cook it another five minutes or until coconut is nice and dark brown.

Summer Salad

Summer is all about simplicity, and the combination of ingredients in a very Southern summer salad leaves little room for improvement. 

My grandma used to make this concoction out of tomatoes, cucumber, onions, vinegar, sugar, salt, and water. She kept it in a seafoam green Tupperware container in the fridge, and I always got in a ton of trouble since it became obvious that I was the one secretly picking out all of the tomatoes. Biee would ask where all of the tomatoes went, and I would shrug. (But I knew she knew.)

Think of summer salad like a quick pickle. Leave it overnight or store about a week. Strain the salad and serve it with a drizzle of olive oil. Summer perfection on a plate.

Summer Salad

(serves 4)

2 cucumbers (about 3 cups sliced)
2 medium tomatoes (about 2 cups sliced, quartered)

1 small white onion (thinly sliced, about a cup)
1 1/2 cups vinegar
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup sugar

Slice the cucumber any way you'd like. The easiest way is to slice them into "coins," but it's also fun to slice them longways using a vegetable peeler. Place the sliced cucumber, tomatoes, onion vinegar, water, salt and sugar in a two-quart food storage container. Stir and refrigerate for a day before serving. 

Healthy-ish Marbled Cheesecake

Not that this is super-healthy or anything, but still, it's a lighter take on traditional cheesecake. This has lower-fat versions of the usual cheeses and subs in Greek yogurt and silken tofu so it's got a little protein and it feels less like a brick in your stomach and more like a dessert you could (sort of) feel virtuous about eating.

After my sister-in-law's sweet sister tried it at a birthday party this week, she said the magic words after I announced that it was my latest attempt at healthy-ish cheesecake: "I wouldn't have known that if you hadn't told me." Exactly the effect I wanted...

Healthy-ish Marbled Cheesecake

Crust:

1 1/2 sleeves honey graham crackers (crushed)

1/4 teaspoon Maldon salt

2 tablespoons cane sugar

1 tablespoon water

1/4 cup olive oil margarine (melted) + 1 tablespoon for pan

Filling:
1 cup low-fat organic sour cream
1/2 cup 2% Greek yogurt
heaping 1/2 cup goat cheese
8 ounces (1 block) of low-fat neufchâtel cheese
4 ounces (1/2 block) silken tofu
2 teaspoons canola oil
3 eggs
1/2 cup cane sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon Maldon salt
fine zest from one organic lemon

Chocolate Swirl:
1/4 cup Dagoba cacao powder
2 tablespoons cane sugar

Topping:
1/4 cup whipping cream
pinch of salt
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
fine zest from one organic lemon

Set out the goat cheese and neufchâtel cheese for 20 minutes at room temperature before you begin so that they can soften. Mix graham cracker crumbs, salt, sugar, margarine, and water. Butter a springform pan and press crust into the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put the sour cream, Greek yogurt, and goat and neufchâtel cheeses in your stand mixer and mix on medium for 5 minutes or until there are no lumps.

Next, run the silken tofu through your food processor and drizzle in canola oil to emulsify it as it whirs. Add it to cheesecake batter in stand mixer and mix on medium for about 3 minutes or until it looks smooth.

Add eggs one at a time to the batter and mix on medium after each addition. Add honey, vanilla, salt, and lemon zest and mix one last time. Reserve one cup of batter in another bowl and add the cacao powder and sugar; mix this up for the chocolate marbling step. Slowly pour vanilla cheesecake mixture into your crust. Add chocolate in spoonfuls to the top of the vanilla cheesecake and swirl it around with a knife. Bake for 1 hour or until middle is set and not jiggly; allow to cool on the countertop before setting the cheesecake in the fridge for at least 4 hours or, even better, overnight.

After chilling and before serving, vigorously whisk up the whipping cream, salt, sugar, and vanilla. Spread whipped cream on top of the cake to mask any cracks from baking.

Farmer Mixer Menu

1. Curried Indian Nachos + Mint Raita

2. "Southern Coverlet" Beets, Granola, Feta on a Joconde Cake

3. Carpaccio of Pickled Vegetables + Fresh Mozzarella

4. Goat Cheese cake with Olive Caramel + Pepper Jelly

5. Chervil Pasta with a Sous Vide Egg + Broccolini and Glazed Carrots 

6. Kim Chi + Peanut Potstickers with White Soy/ Yuzu Glaze

7. "Soctch" Egg with Truffle Potato Foam

8. Sweet Potato Tamales with Smoked Shiitake + Vanilla/ Avocado Cream

9. Farro Flatbreads + Smoked Coconut Bacon

10. Cinnamon + Tamarind Horchata with Kentucky Whiskey

11. Strawberry + Cucumber Lemonade with Cathead Vodka

Farmer Mixer Tonight at The Brooks

If you don't have tickets to The Farmer Mixer yet, you can still come. Just buy your tickets at the door. Chef Andrew Adams and I have been hard at work preparing some delicious vegetarian food for you. There will be drinks like my Whiskey Horchata and live music from Bryan Hartley Industries. We also have some crafts like vegetable-print tote bags. You can also interact with real live farmers. It's endless fun until 8pm. I hope to see you all!