HotmailSimple and Southern: Dishes with fresh flavor
Matt and Ted Lee share recipes for potato gratin and catfish Caesar salad
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Country kitchen delights Nov. 3: Chefs Matt and Ted Lee show the TODAY hosts how to cook up simple Southern dishes, like potato gratin and Caesar salad, that will knock out your dinner guests. Today show |
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Chefs Matt and Ted Lee are combining the old with the new. Using family recipes, the brothers are taking Southern cuisine and adding fresh flavors and lighter cooking methods. They share their recipes for pimento-cheese potato gratin and Caesar salad with catfish “"croutons.”
Serves 6/ Time: 10 minutes preparation, 35 minutes cooking
Pimento cheese, sometimes called the South’s “house pate,” is a simple cheese spread made with extra-sharp cheddar, mayonnaise, and diced roasted red peppers. It’s a very mildly peppery blend straight from the mid-century, and it’s delicious on celery sticks, sandwiches, and hamburgers.
We hosted two parties, one in New York and one in Charleston, for our first book (which contains two recipes for “P.C.”). For the New York shindig, we booked a crack team of four kitchen-savvy transplanted southerners, and we all pitched in to make 1,800 pimento-cheese tea sandwiches over the course of two days.
All 1,800 sandwiches disappeared in the first twenty minutes of the party (that’s 90 per minute!). One editor at a major food magazine was spotted with a stack of six in her hand, and later, wrapping more in napkins to stuff in her purse.
This recipe hit like a thunderclap — why not juice up a gratin with the peppery double hit of sweet roasted peppers and hot crushed red chile? We went into the test kitchen and developed this casserole that has dethroned our macaroni and cheese for the title of favorite cheesy dish in the house!
INGREDIENTS
Heat the oven to 375° F, with racks positioned in the middle and the top third of the oven.
In a 3- to 4-quart stockpot, bring 2 quarts water and 2 teaspoons of the salt to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Then drain, and set them aside.
Combine the cream, shallots, chile flakes, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, the black pepper, and 2 tablespoons of the liquid from the jar of roasted peppers in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook until the chile flakes have begun to stain the cream, about 2 minutes. Add half of the cheese and stir until it melts, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat.
Layer roughly a third of the potatoes in a 6-cup baking dish, overlapping them slightly so that they fit in an even layer. Scatter half of the roasted peppers on top of the potatoes (cut up any peppers that have remained whole so that they lie flat), and repeat layering potatoes and peppers until all the peppers and potatoes have been used. Pour the cream mixture over the potatoes and peppers, and agitate the dish to distribute the liquid throughout. Cover with aluminum foil and bake on the middle rack for 15 minutes.
Uncover the dish, sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, and place the dish on the top oven rack. Bake for 8 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and gently browned on top. Serve immediately.
MANAGE YOUR RECIPES
Serves 3/ Time: 30 minutes
As coastal dwellers, we have so many saltwater delicacies in our markets — wreckfish, triggerfish, flounder — that we never really messed with freshwater creatures until we experienced catfish nirvana at the Taylor Grocery and Restaurant. Taylor, Mississippi, a dogleg in the road 8 miles southwest of Oxford, is the kind of place where you can end up in a pottery studio, two art galleries, and on the mayor’s porch drinking bourbon in the 20 minutes or so it takes to get a table at the “Grocery.” When you sit down inside the former railroad depot, you’re served some of the best fried catfish on earth: a crispy-nutty-salty crust enveloping meltingly tender fish. “Eat or We Both Starve” is their motto.
With this recipe, we bring some Taylor mojo to the ubiquitous Chicken Caesar found on the menu of almost every casual restaurant, replacing the often insipid grilled chicken with nuggets of cornmeal-battered fried catfish. In fact, do this right now: call up some friends you haven’t seen in a while and invite them for dinner tonight. Make this salad along with a bowl of Creamy Sweet-Onion Soup (page 106). These easy comforts, especially on a gloomy fall Wednesday, will light up the night.
INGREDIENTS
Catfish croutons
Caesar salad
Put the catfish pieces in a medium bowl, pour the buttermilk over them, and toss to coat. Pour the flour, cornmeal, salt, and black pepper into a gallon-size locking food storage bag, and shake it around to combine. Lift the catfish pieces from the buttermilk, place them in the bag, and turn the bag gently in your hands until the pieces are covered in the dredge.
Heat the oil in a large deep skillet until it reads 375° F on a deep-frying thermometer. Using a wide slotted spoon or a skimmer, transfer a batch of the catfish pieces to the hot oil. Fry the fish in batches, taking care not to crowd the skillet, turning the pieces once as they become golden-brown, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer the fried catfish to a plate lined with a paper towel.
Put the lettuce in a large salad bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the buttermilk, mayonnaise, anchovies, lemon juice, garlic, and salt together. Pour the dressing over the greens and toss with tongs to coat evenly.
Divide the salad among 4 luncheon plates or salad bowls, and then scatter the catfish croutons on top of the greens. Serve immediately.
Note: If you happen not to be a catfish fancier, any firm, sweet white-fleshed fish that holds up to frying — whiting, tilapia, and cod are others — works perfectly in this recipe.
Garnish it rich: Using a chef ’s knife or a cheese slicer, shave a salty, firm Italian cheese like Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano into pieces as large and as paper-thin as you can make them, and arrange them over the salad. (Pecorino Romano is not as fruity or mellow-tasting as Parmigiano-Reggiano, but it costs a whole lot less!)
MANAGE YOUR RECIPES
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