Crispy Cheese Stuffed Red Corn Grit Cakes over Seasoned Spinach & Chestnuts and Topped with Italian Style Sweet Tomatoes

I picked up a bag of Jimmy Red Cornmeal Grits from Nelson’s Seafood and Meat Shop. These Grits are very different than regular grits or even polenta. They have a unique flavor and a very fine texture. On the bag it states that they have a slight chestnut and lavender taste. I tried to pick up on the chestnut taste by adding earthy chestnuts to the spinach. These grits are so different. They have almost no texture and are like creamy soup when you follow the directions on the package. I thought if I cut the liquid by 25% I could make the grits firmer and make a crusted cake out of them. The crust part is very concentrated with corn flavor that is filled with this unique creamy delicate grits. A creamy mild cheese is between two thin layers of crusted grits. Underneath is quickly braised spinach. I heated up a 1/2 cup of water with a Tablespoon of vegetable based (think of it as flavored salt) and thinly sliced onions. As soon as the mixture is hot the spinach gets squeezed into the pot and is done almost instantly. Then the spinach gets drained and seasoned. You will be surprised on how flavorful and delicious the spinach gets. Lastly the grit cakes get topped very very sweet seasoned Italian style tomatoes and a dollop of fresh ricotta cheese if you happen to have any around.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

1 cup Jimmy Red Cornmeal – Geechie Boy Mill Brand (I don’t think any other brand is made the same)

3 cups water

1/2 teaspoon course sea salt

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

non stick spray – canola or vegetable

1 1/2 lbs fresh spinach

1/2 medium sweet onion – sliced very thin on a mandolin

1 garlic clove – ground to paste

1/2 cup water

1 Tablespoon vegetable base

3 1/2 oz peel roasted chestnuts – slightly more than rough chopped

fresh ground black pepper to  taste

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 cup tiny sweet grape tomatoes – cut in quarters

1 garlic clove ground to paste

1 Tablespoon fine chopped basil – packed really tight

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon balsamic  vinegar

1 1/2 Tablespoons shaved parmesan

fresh ground sea salt – to taste

fresh ground black pepper – to taste

4 oz mild cheese mozzarella, mild provolone would be great, mascarpone would be great too (I used a mild pepadew cheese)

optional – 4 dollops of fresh made ricotta cheese

Directions

Put a sauce pot on to boil with 3 cups of water and a 1/2 teaspoon of course sea salt. When it starts to boil slowly whisk in the grits. Keep whisking. Turn down the heat to a medium simmer.  Add the butter and keep whisking. Whisk as much as you can for at least 20 minutes.

Spray a pie pan with non stick spray.

When the grits are done pour the grits in the pie pan and leave on the counter till about room temperature. Then cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to cool at set.

In a medium bowl combine the tomatoes, 1 clove garlic, basil, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, balsamic, parmesan and salt and pepper to taste. Set in the refrigerator.

Now clean out your sauce pot.

Add a 1/2 cup of water to your sauce pot with the sliced onions and bring them to boil on medium high heat. Add the spinach a BIG handful at a time while stirring. (this should be very quick) Now take off heat and place spinach in a colander to drain over a bowl or in sink so it can drain. Stir in the ground garlic, roasted chestnuts, olive oil and black pepper to taste. You will be surprised on how delicious and flavorful the spinach is….

By around now the grits might be chilled and solid.

When the grits are chilled and solid. Dump them out in one piece on a cutting board.

Cut 8 wedges just like a pie.

Get a medium sized fry pan on medium high heat sprayed with non stick spray. When the pan is hot add a couple wedges at a time and they need to brown on both sides. This happened pretty quickly if your pan is hot. They only need about two minutes a side.

I put the mild cheese in-between two grit wedges.

Crispy Cheese Stuffed Red Corn Grit Cakes over Seasoned Spinach & Chestnuts and Topped with Italian Style Sweet Tomatoes

Then over the spinach and spooned on some of the tomato mixture and a spoonful of fresh made ricotta.

The Forking Truth

Baked Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms with Baby Zucchini

I got these Great Baby Zucchini with attached Blossoms at the Pinnacle Peak Farmer’s Market. I thought I should stuff the blossoms so I did. Some things you do have to fry but if I can avoid frying I avoid frying because I prefer my empty fat calories from Cheese, Ice Cream, Chocolate, Bread and Alcohol..(usually wine)…….Often….. Often..or VERY OFTEN…. Fried from the oven can actually taste better than foods that are actually fried. My Oven Fried Turkey Wings and Oven Fried French Fries can actually compete with the real thing….How many times has something fried that you ate leaves grease in your mouth?  Doesn’t something fried taste like fish sometimes?  Often something fried just taste like old grease. … Well any who….I’ve come up with an unique breading recipe that actually does come out like a fried crispy coating. Two secrets are to this recipe. One I add Dijon Mustard to the egg because it makes the coating stick together great and it adds a nice flavor. The other secret is that I use Whole Wheat Panko. It works like magic for a crisp baked coating. I note that you will have a little extra Flour, Egg and Panko left over. But I think it will be too difficult to work with less. I used the leftover to make 8 small baked onion rings.

Ingredients for about 2 servings

6 baby zucchini with blossoms attached

2 oz. feta cheese – (it must be the fresh style that’s creamy mild and less salt style with-out tang) – or substitute goat cheese

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon course sea salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

2 L eggs – beaten

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 cup whole wheat panko

non stick spray – canola or vegetable

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

If you haven’t done so already wash off and carefully blot dry the zucchini.

You need to slit each blossom and remove the small inside with your fingers. Just pull the little thing out.

Get your 2 oz. block of feta and cut into 6 pieces. Put the biggest piece into the biggest flower. Try to wrap the flower around the cheese as best as you can. The flower wraps around the cheese pretty easy.

Get out three bowls. In one bowl add the flour, paprika, cayenne, course sea salt and black pepper and mix.

In the second bowl add the two beaten eggs and the dijon mustard. Mix well.

In the third bowl goes the whole wheat panko.

Get out a baking sheet and line it with Quilon or parchment paper.

Start by dipping the largest blossom into the flour. Make sure the blossom is coated all over with flower.

Then take the flour coated blossom into the egg mixture and coat the blossom well with egg.

Now the egg coated blossom goes into the panko mixture and make sure the blossom is well coated with panko.

Rest each stuffed blossom with zucchini on a lined sheet tray. LIGHTLY spray the zucchini with non stick spray.

They go in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes and then after 30 minutes carefully turn them over and the zucchini only need about 15 minutes more on the other side.

Lightly add fresh ground sea salt and black pepper to the non breaded part of the zucchini when you remove them from the oven.

Baked Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms & Baby Zucchini

You might want small sides of marinara sauce for dipping.

Fun appetizer or side dish.

The Forking Truth

Purple Sweet Potato Blackberry Pie with Coconut/Almond Crust

This is nothing like a traditional sweet potato pie. I purchased some purple sweet potatoes. The purple sweet potatoes have a different flavor than orange sweet potatoes. They are slightly perfume-ee with maybe a berry note. I think they also seem a little starchier than an orange sweet potato. The Blackberry seems to lighten up the heavy potato and the flavor and color inspired this pie. The crust is Forking AMAZING! It’s very special and unique. It’s very flavorful. It’s has savory and sweet with yummy pops from the sea salt crystals with a really great texture. It was made with coconut flour, almond flour and olive oil. This pie feels almost like Cheesecake in the mouth. If seeds from blackberries bother you then you need to  push the blackberries threw a strainer if you are making this pie. Now this is a very unique pie! You aren’t going to find anything like this anywhere.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup almond flour

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon cold water

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon course sea salt

non stick spray

15 oz purple sweet potatoes – already cooked peeled and sliced

8oz blackberries – mash them all pour 1/2 into potato filling the other half gets mixed with 2 Tablespoons sugar and gets set to the side in a small bowl.

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 L eggs – slightly beaten

14 oz sweetened condensed milk

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

pinch white pepper

pinch course sea salt

a few grates fresh nutmeg

Directions

Set oven at 350 degrees

Spray a pie pan with non stick spray (My pan is a very shallow bakery pie pan. (I think it’s a normal size pan…across the bottom is 8 inches but with the flat ends it’s about 11 inches….You can use a slightly different size but the timing might be slightly off)

Your small bowl with 4 oz of mashed blackberries and sugar is set to the side.

In a medium bowl hand mix the these ingredients one at a time, flour, coconut flour, almond flour, olive oil, water, 2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. Hand pat the mixture in the pie pan. Then piece all over with a fork. Put in the oven till it’s lightly cooked that will be 4-5 minutes. Pull out and set to the side.

It’s sort of like moist sand

After 5 minutes in oven

In a large bowl slice up the potatoes and then mash the potatoes (the slicing breaks them down so they mash better).  Hand mash in the remaining ingredients one at a time till done and the mixture is smooth. Pour a layer into pie shell then a small layer of the blackberries and go back and forth until done.  Place in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Purple Sweet Potato Blackberry Pie with Coconut/Almond Crust

It’s delicious and very different! You will be surprised!

The Forking Truth

Cranberry Roselle Lime Sauce

Roselle

I never saw or heard of Roselle before and saw them at the Pinnacle Peak Farmers Market and purchased a small bag of them. I found out the Roselle is a wild relative of the Hibiscus Flower. While researching the Roselle I came across a lot of websites claiming the roselle flower has many health benefits. According to Wikipedia the Roselle decreases blood pressure by 7.5/3.5 units. (whatever that means) One website claimed it helps to reverse the effects of diabetes. According to www.Airytea.com the Roselle is very high in vitamins and minerals and cures almost any infliction that you can think of….of course I don’t know if any of this has any truth to it. I read that most people just make beverages from the Roselle flowers (but other parts of the plant are also eaten) so I boiled the Roselle to keep the liquid. I thought they taste sort of like a floral kind of cranberry taste so I just added it to cranberry sauce and I thought lime and a hint of cayenne would be good in the sauce and it is.

Ingredients for about 10 servings

12 oz cranberries  – soak and rinse them a few times

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups Roselle liquid – Bring to boil about 2 1/2 cups of water with 10 Roselle Flowers reduce to simmer about 40 minutes – toss out Roselle keep all the liquid. (if you have more than 1 1/2 cups use it and decrease the water)

1 cup water

1 lime – the fresh squeezed juice and all of the zest

pinch course sea salt

pinch cayenne pepper

Directions

Pot a sauce pot on medium high heat and add the Roselle liquid, water, sugar and salt. Bring to boil. Add cranberries, lime juice and cayenne. Reduce to medium heat and stir occasionally. You need to cook it until all the cranberries pop. When the cranberries are popped turn it down a little. You might want to cover it loosely with foil so it doesn’t splatter on your stove. Let it reduce to desired consistency. Lastly add the lime zest. Take off heat and refrigerate. Cranberry sauce also freezes well.

Cranberry Roselle Lime Sauce

Cranberry sauce that is a little different. It’s not too sweet. It a little floral with a nice texture. It taste good. It might even be super healthy and cure all your ailments. Who The Fork Knows.

The Forking Truth