Guess Who Was On my Flight Last Night?

That's Bullseye, the Target miniature Bull Terrier and it's a she folks!

She was getting off the Atlanta flight I was boarding, all made up and ready for the red carpet at some event in Miami sponsored by Target.  What a lady, and what a celebrity.  You should have seen her walking down the terminal as if she were Paris Hilton or JLo!  Incredible how everybody recognized her and smiled as she went by. 

Cold Asparagus With Creamy Mustard Sauce

I just bought some asparagus this weekend and, unlike the disappointing strawberries I have purchased this year, they are fantastic.  When asparagus are this good I think of nothing else but Hollandaise;  but when you want to serve a larger group, there is nothing like a mustard and mayonnaise sauce. 

This is great for a Spring lunch and for Easter Sunday this weekend.  You can adapt the sauce by substituting orange juice for the vinegar and adding grated orange peel.  The best part is everything can be prepared the day before!

I will be on vacation for a couple of weeks but will be back with more recipes and fun at the end of the month.  Stay tuned!



Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper

Steamed Asparagus

Directions

1.In a bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar, and 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over chilled Steamed Asparagus.

Original recipe adapted from Martha Stewart
Photo same

Corn Pudding With Cheddar

While looking for a corn souffle recipe to make for a friend, I came across this corn pudding with cheddar cheese.  It comes from a site I just discovered from GE Monogram called All in Good Food.  Check it out!

In this case, frozen corn is just as good as fresh.


Ingredients

1 Stick Butter

1 Cup Diced Onion

1 tsp Minced Garlic

4 Eggs

4 Cups Fresh or Frozen Corn

1 Cup Cream

1 Cup Cheddar Cheese

2 Tbs Corn Meal

2 Tbs Sugar (Optional)

1 Tbs Salt

1 tsp Black Pepper


Preparation

1.In a small pan over medium-high heat melt the butter and gently saute the onions and garlic until soft

2.In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs until frothy

3.Add the butter mixture along with all the remaining ingredients and mix well

4.Pour into a buttered 9 inch square casserole or a similar sized oven-safe dish

5.Bake at 375 degrees until center is just set (about 25-40 minutes)



Recipe and Photo from All In Good Food

Lake Reading....Highly Recommended

If you want to have a well documented opinion on what is going on in the Middle East today, you better be prepared to have all the facts on hand.  This part of the world, unfortunately, is not covered well in any of the history courses we took in school.  It's about time we made room for it.

I have found most books I've tried to read on the Arab world to be extremely in depth and boring and I had yet to find one that kept my interest until I picked this book up at the local library.  Published in 2009 The Arabs by Eugene Rogan covers the Middle East and North Africa from the end of the Ottoman Empire until present.  Unlike other books on the history of the ME, I found this to be a highly readable and interesting book, although I have to confess to skipping a few pages here and there.  Remember those professors we had in college that were so great that they made anything seem interesting? Well Rogan is one of them.  He is on the faculty of Oxford University as well as a Director of the Middle East Centre. 

The next book is a fun one albeit an older one.  Published in 1992, Baghdad Without a Map by Tony Horowitz is an anecdotal and often humorous travelogue through the Arab world crammed with stories and observations that tell more about the Arab world than any history book. After you finish, you'll wonder what took these countries so long to revolt.

Horowitz has written four other books including the New York Times bestseller Confederates in the Attic and Blue Latitudes.  He has been a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and has been a staff reporter for the New Yorker.  In 1995 he received the Pulitzer Prize for journalism.   He is married to novelist Geraldine Brooks.  Fabulous book, go read it!

Image: Getty

Chocolate Espresso Pots de Creme

I'm not quite ready to start posting Spring dessert recipes yet as the strawberries I bought last week from Florida looked beautiful but had no taste whatsoever. I ended up making fresh strawberry jam for it would have broken my heart to just throw them away.

Winter has been long and tough all over the country and I wonder what the Spring crop will bring. Usually here in Georgia by this time we would be enjoying days in the high 60's low 70's but we have been lucky to get up to 50 degrees on some days. For the time being, I guess we will have to sacrifice ourselves and stick to chocolate.

If you enjoy chocolate pots de creme you will adore these. The espresso only enhances the flavor of the chocolate. Adapt the amount of espresso depending on how much coffee flavor you want to come through. I add  Bustelo, the brand I use to make Cuban coffee.

Yield: Makes 8 servings

Ingredients


6 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup whole milk
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons instant-espresso powder*
6 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar

Special equipment: 8 (4- to 5-oz) ramekins or pot de crème cups
Garnish: bittersweet chocolate curls


Directions


Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 300°F.

Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring cream, milk, espresso powder (to taste), and a pinch of salt just to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring until espresso powder is dissolved, then pour over chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Whisk together yolks, sugar, and a pinch of salt in another bowl, then add warm chocolate mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a 1-quart glass measure and cool completely, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

Line bottom of a baking pan (large enough to hold ramekins) with a folded kitchen towel and arrange ramekins on towel. Poke several holes in a large sheet of foil with a skewer. Divide custard among ramekins, then bake custards in a hot water bath , pan covered tightly with foil, until custards are set around edges but still slightly wobbly in centers, 30 to 35 minutes

Transfer ramekins to a rack to cool completely, uncovered, about 1 hour. (Custards will set as they cool.) Chill, covered, until cold, at least 3 hours.

Pots de crème can chill up to 2 days.



Adapted from Gourmet Magazine
Photo same