FAVORITE BRUNCH RECIPES: SUNDAY MORNING POPOVERS

Martie Duncan September 20, 2014

I'm not a big breakfast person. That's not exactly true... let's just say I don't always make time for breakfast so I skip it most days. But on Sunday morning, when I try to stop for a bit and have a word with God about all my many blessings, I often cook while God and I chat. One of the things I often make is Popovers. I first fell in love with them while living in Chicago; the little restaurant inside Neiman Marcus on Michigan Avenue had them on the menu. One of my friends, a woman named Gwendolyn Watson who I have long ago lost but will never forget, told me about the Neiman's Popovers. These light, airy little puffs are so delicious- plus they are fast and SO easy. I don’t have a popover pan; I just make them in muffin tins and so dang what if they are not perfect? They are still perfectly delicious. The secret? Pour the batter in a hot pan much like you do for cornbread. Trust me.

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 35 minutes

SUNDAY MORNING POPOVERS

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon kosher salt

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 ½ cups whole milk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Place an oven rack so that the popovers will be in the middle of the oven once they rise. If the rack is too close to the top of the oven, the tops of the popovers will burn.

Brush a standard 12-cup metal muffin tin with softened butter. Grease thoroughly including the area between the cups as well as the cups themselves. Put the pan in the oven to heat.

In a bowl, add the eggs, milk, and salt. Whisk till the egg and milk are well combined, with no streaks of yolk.

Add the flour all at once, and beat with a whisk till frothy with no lumps in the batter. Stir in the melted butter, combining quickly.

Pour the batter into the hot muffin cups, filling them half full.

Make sure the oven is at 450°F. Place the pan on the lower rack.

Bake the popovers for 20 minutes without opening the oven door. Reduce the heat to 350°F and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until they're a deep, golden brown. Resist the urge to open the door as the popovers will deflate easily.

Remove the pan and let the popovers cool slightly. Take a knife and run around the cups to release. Serve hot with butter, whipped cream, berries, honey or your favorite filling. In the fall, I like to go all Autumn and saute some not quite ripe apples in butter. Add some sugar, some cinnamon, nutmeg, maybe a little vanilla. Let the sugar begin to dissolve. Pull it off the heat, pour on some Calvados or brandy and light the thing on fire. Swirl the pan until the brandy burns off. Don't catch yourself or the house on fire. Pour over the Popovers. Count your blessings. #blessed

RECIPE: SAUSAGE, WHITE BEAN AND ESCAROLE SOUP

Martie Duncan September 19, 2014

I love soup. There’s hardly anything I like more than a warm bowl of something hearty when it is cold outside. This time of the year, a big pot of soup is the perfect way to feed a big crowd and this recipe for Sausage, White Bean and Escarole soup is not only fast, it is also very affordable. For game day or snow day parties, you can serve this with a salad and some toasty garlic bread and you’re all set. If you can't find Escarole in the veggie aisle, arugula, kale, or other leafy green can substitute.

SAUSAGE, WHITE BEAN AND ESCAROLE SOUP

Serves 6-8

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds of spicy or mild Italian sausage, removed from casing

1 medium yellow onion, diced

5 carrots, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

5-6 whole canned tomatoes plus 1/2 cup of juice from Italian canned tomatoes

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

splash white wine (or any) vinegar

1 cup white wine (optional)

5-6 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 bay leaves

2 cans cannellini beans (white pinto beans, Great Northern beans)

2 cups escarole, chopped

Parmesan for garnish

Tabasco-optional

DIRECTIONS:

In a large Dutch oven, over medium high heat, brown the sausage, removed from the casing. Once the sausage is nice and brown, use a slotted spoon to remove it from the pan; drain on paper towels. Reserve. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of the fat from the pan. Let the oil get hot and add the onion, carrots and celery. Cook 3 minutes or until softened. Let the vegetables get nice and soft, stirring occasionally, about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic. Cook one minute more. Add the sausage back to the pot. Add salt, pepper, and thyme. Add the tomatoes by crushing them with your hands into little pieces. Add the juice from the tomatoes, vinegar, Worcestershire, and the white wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up all of the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook and stir for about 1-2 minutes.

Add the chicken broth, beans and escarole. Bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat and cook 10 minutes more. The soup is ready to serve when the escarole is wilted. Serve with toasty garlic bread and garnish with grated Parmesan.

LIBRARY BOOKS, BIRMINGHAM'S BEST BITES, AND IT IS CHOCOLATE ROULAGE, NOT ROULADE

Martie Duncan September 15, 2014

I have got quite the week in front of me. Some of it is exciting and some is like jail.

The jail part is self imposed. I put myself on lockdown. No phone. No Facebook. I'd say no computer but I have to write. Suddenly, I'm having a flashback to Food Network Star.... ugh. Here's why I'm in self-imposed hiatus.... I'm trying to finish editing the collection of recipes I have gathered for an upcoming cookbook called Birmingham's Best Bites: A Collection of Recipes from Your Favorite Restaurants which will benefit the Birmingham Public Library. I loved the library as a kid and would ride my bike there almost daily in the summer to get new books to read. I bet I read every sports, horse, or Nancy Drew book they had in the place. Here's me... I always fell asleep with a library book on my head.

I'm writing the book with my good friend Chanda Temple, who is the Public Relations Director at the library. Our deadline is this week so I'm on lockdown until I finish. The book will be a great way for the library to raise funds for events and special programs and it will also help the restaurants with their visibility, too. The book launch party happens as the conclusion of this year's Eat, Drink, Read, Write Festival on October 10,2014. I'm helping throw the party. Here's a link to tickets if you want to come. They are only $10. Purchase EDRW Birmingham's Best Bites & Instagrammy's Tickets.

You have to be there to buy the cookbook and there are only a limited number of copies available. Besides, it is going to be a great party with lots of wonderful best bites! There are recipes from Birmingham's James Beard Award winners and nominees: Chef Frank Stitt and Highlands Bar and Grill, Chef Chris Hastings, Hot and Hot Fish Club, Chef James Lewis, Bettola at Pepper Place, Jim 'n Nicks, Ollie Irene, and the iconic The Bright Star in Bessemer. There are recipes from favorite food trucks like Shindigs and Dreamcakes to new-comers like Avondale's Hotbox, Bottle & Bone at Uptown, and the highly anticipated Galley & Garden from Chef James Boyce, Little Savannah, Satterfield's, DoDiYo's, Jinsei, Maki Fresh, Eagles Restaurant, and Ashley Mac and so many, many more have stepped up to participate.

Chanda Temple and I preview our cookbook, Birmingham's Best Bites: Recipes from Birmingham's Restaurants, Bars and Food Trucks

We've even included a "days gone by" section with a history of Birmingham restaurants and recipes from some favorites that have closed. That section includes the recipe for my Chocolate Roulage recipe, inspired by a landmark Birmingham restaurant called Cobb Lane which closed long ago. We used to go there back in the day for special occasions like bridesmaids luncheons and baby showers and the primary reason was for the Roulage. Yes, rou-lage. Not roulade. Yes. I know the French pronounce the rolled up thingie a "rou-lade" but here in Birmingham Alabama, it is and always will be pronounced rou-lage.

This book will be the perfect present for your foodie friends so get a few and keep them for special occasions. The images are by local photographers Arden Ward Upton and Mo Davis of Arden Photography. The photos are stunning and will make the book all the more special. Here is a sneak peek: