Mama’s Mother’s Day Meal

I have always had a strong connection with my mom. Maybe it’s because she gave birth to me at such a young age. Maybe it’s because she was always ready to play with me after school. Maybe it’s because she constantly supported and encouraged me. Maybe it’s because she made sacrifices for me left, right, and sideways. Sacrifices that allowed me to have all of the things I needed and most of the things I wanted. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because she cooked delicious meals for me every day of this entire world, when she couldn’t possibly have had the time or energy. Yes, now I think we are on to something…

My mom is certainly right at home in the kitchen. Growing up, I can remember getting off of the school bus and walking up the driveway as delicious smells wafted out of the kitchen on the backs of gentle breezes. Pot roast, fried chicken, fried pork chops, hamburgers, steak and gravy, mashed potatoes, fried okra, and many other southern delicacies could be found on our supper table on any given weeknight. How she found the time to whip up such meals on a regular basis, while sometimes working two different jobs boggles my adult mind. She must have been a superhero.

We didn’t get to place requests. You ate what was there or you were up the creek without a paddle. Luckily for us, everything that flew out of her kitchen was simply delicious. I marveled when my classmates would tell me how they would be having dreaded leftovers for dinner in the evening. I never even knew what a leftover was. It was a completely foreign idea to me. When mom cooked, there were no leftovers. Ever. Every last scrap of food on the table was devoured, every single time.

Now let’s skip ahead to the year 2013. Last Sunday, as you know, was Mother’s Day. If you weren’t aware of this, you may be finding yourself in some hot water right about now. Of course, being the good son that I am, I was fully aware of the weekend’s significance and I prepared accordingly. I made the trek to central North Carolina, where I was born and raised, to spend the Mother’s Day weekend with my mom and dad. I showed up at the front door, roses and balloon in hand, as my mom gave me a big, welcoming hug. I had been in the house no longer than two milliseconds before the talk went to food.

“Now tonight, we’ll be havin’ steaks on the grill at your aunt’s house. I think they’ll be bakin’ potatoes and roastin’ corn, too” she said with her gentle and comforting southern drawl. Before I could even get in a word edgewise, the talk turned to her Mother’s Day dinner – which she fully intended to prepare. She had illusions of culinary grandeur which included making homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes, slow-cooked beans, and angel food cake with fresh strawberries. Of course this all sounded great to me, but I couldn’t get past the nagging feeling I had of letting my mom toil away in the kitchen on the day that was supposed to be all about her.

Mother’s Day arrived and we still had plans to make this very traditional, heavy, filling fried chicken dinner. Then something magical happened. We were watching a cooking show on television that morning featuring a baked fish and vegetable dish. The gears in my head started to turn. Apparently the gears in my mom’s head were turning as well. We gave each other a look and decided that we would go out on a limb and venture into uncharted culinary waters. Not knowing exactly how this would turn out, we took the leap of faith and decided to make our own spin on what we had just viewed on television. I made the decision right then and there that my mom was not to lift a finger on this meal. I would prepare, cook, and clean from start to finish. What could be better than a homemade meal on Mother’s Day cooked by your oldest son? A meal that tastes good, that’s what. Hopefully I could deliver on that promise.

The meal that featured an assortment of fish and vegetables was cooked in the oven in parchment paper packets. Here’s what we ended up getting for this experimental Mother’s Day feast. Keep in mind, you can substitute any of the vegetables or fish choices to suit your own taste buds. Use this as a loose guideline as you peruse the aisles of the grocery store.

Red snapper fish fillets
Carrots
Leeks
Snow peas
Heirloom cherry tomatoes
Fennel
Couscous
Canned or frozen artichoke hearts
Lemon
White wine or seafood stock
Butter
Assorted fresh herbs
Parchment paper

Again, this is the route we chose for this particular meal – feel free to change it up a bit to leave your own fingerprint on this dish.To get started, tear off a piece of parchment paper about 18″ in length. Lay this out flat on your kitchen counter. Place one of your red snapper fillets right in the center of your parchment paper. Lightly season the fillet with some salt and pepper, minced garlic, and a bit of Old Bay seasoning, if you so desire.

Now, sprinkle some shredded carrots around your fish. Place some thinly-sliced leeks and fennel bulb on top of the shredded carrots. If you aren’t too familiar with fennel, it has a wonderful and delicate licorice flavor. When it cooks in the oven, the flavor mellows a bit and the intrinsic sweetness really begins to shine. Slice your heirloom cherry tomatoes in half and add some of these to the mix. These will add a nice pop of color and make things bright and cheery for your Mother’s Day meal. Next, sprinkle in a few tender snow peas. Ahead of time, I’d already prepared a box of plain couscous according to the directions on the box. Place a few spoonfuls of the cooked couscous around the fish to give this meal some extra substance. Add a few of the canned artichoke hearts around the edges and you’re almost ready to cook! Place a few lemon slices directly on top of your fish fillet and some of the fennel fronds, to give an extra anise flavor. To add some moisture to your creation, pour about 1/4 of a cup of your white wine or seafood stock all around the vegetables and fish. I opted to use seafood stock here rather than the wine. As much as I love to drink the stuff, cooking with wine just isn’t how I roll. I prefer to have mine in a glass, thank you very much. Add a tablespoon of butter on top of the fish, which will melt down and provide a silky, rich finish. Sprinkle an assortment of chopped fresh herbs over the top. We went with some thyme, parsley, and basil, since they were in abundance in my mom’s herb garden that afternoon.

Before you seal it up, here’s what your meal should look like. I love all of the bright colors smiling back at me. It’s a meal that you won’t have to feel too guilty about eating, because all of the ingredients are good for you!

To seal it up, tear off a piece of parchment paper just as long as your original piece and lay it over the top. Begin crimping the edges and stapling to ensure that things are as airtight as they can possibly be. Once you’ve sealed it all the way around, you’re good to go. Your fish packet will be ready to pop in the oven!

Your fish and vegetables will cook and steam in their own juices, along with the stock and butter. Place your packets in a 425 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Once you remove them from the oven, let them rest for about 5 minutes so they can continue to cook. Now all that’s left to do is open your packets and pig out! Be careful when you slice into the parchment paper, because steam will be waiting to make its great escape and it could burn your fingers. Once you slice into your packet, you will be greeted by a truly beautiful sight.

What a feast! It’s healthy. It’s easy. It’s self-contained. Place each packet on a large plate to serve. You can eat right out of the parchment paper.

The room was initially quiet, as we looked at this unfamiliar meal that was now in front of us. Everyone began to very cautiously poke and prod around the combination of fish and vegetables. Being the brave one in the group, I took the first bite. The flavors were out of this world! The decision to add some butter was a good one – but then again, when is it not? The lemon really infused its flavor into the fish as it was baking. Speaking of the fish, it was tender, it was flaky, and it was delicious!

Old habits die hard in our house. There were no leftovers, just like the old days. Also, not one, but two momentous occasions occurred on this particular Mother’s Day. We stepped outside of our comfort zone, by trying something completely out of the ordinary for our family. Stepping outside of our comfort zone was completely overshadowed by what happened next. Something that even Nostradamus, in all of his infinite wisdom, couldn’t have predicted. I actually did the dishes. That’s right. The Taste Bud got in the kitchen and cleaned things up. But before you go showering me with praise, you should know that the cleanup process consisted solely of wadding up pieces of parchment paper. Still, I do like getting showered with praise, so don’t hold back. Praise away!

Make sure you leave enough praise for your mom. Even if she’s not still with you, make time to remember the good times. I’m lucky to have spent three wonderful decades with my mom and I’m looking forward to the years, the laughs, and the great meals that are waiting for us in the future. That’s a forecast that The Taste Bud can guarantee.

Honor thy mother with food,

The Taste Bud

Don’t Stir!

It is the middle of July and a young boy is in the kitchen helping his grandma assemble a tasty summertime treat. Peaches are in season, so his grandma has decided that a peach cobbler would really hit the spot on this sweltering Saturday afternoon. Adorned with a soothing scoop of vanilla ice cream, this cobbler and ice cream combo was sure to help melt away the stifling heat and humidity, while simultaneously satisfying the proverbial sweet tooth. The cobbler we would make is exceedingly easy to assemble and has only a few short steps. Even the most amateur cooks could keep up with this simple recipe without feeling any bit of intimidation. There is one incredibly important rule that must be followed if you wish to have a successful and visually appealing cobbler – don’t stir!

Fast forward from my grandma’s kitchen to the present day. It is late April and the weather is cloudy and unseasonably cool on this Sunday in central Virginia. Clouds are hanging low in the sky, obscuring the mountain tops in the distance. The sky hints at the promise of rain, but has so far only delivered meager amounts of the life-sustaining liquid. It is on days like this that I dream about the warmer summer days that surely aren’t lurking too far in the future. With those warmer days in mind, I find myself dreaming of the foods that are associated with those summer months. I can’t help but to remember and be comforted by the memories of my grandma’s peach cobblers. With that serving as my inspiration, I went in a new direction after I had a burst of berry creativity. Peaches are out. Berries are in. Not just any berries either. Blackberries. Not to be confused with the smartphones that are vastly inferior to the iPhone. We are talking about beautiful, plump, sweet blackberries.

Aren’t they gorgeous? Since they photograph so well, I thought we should look at them again. So, without further ado…

Aside from eating them straight from the container, I can think of no better way to prepare these sweet treats than to put them in a cobbler. A cobbler with only a few simple ingredients and one simple rule – don’t stir!

Here’s what you’ll need to make this summertime dessert:

3 pints of fresh blackberries
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 cup of sugar (plus a few more tablespoons for the berries)
1 cup of whole milk
1 cup of self-rising flour
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

I like to start by getting the berries ready. To do this, dump all 3 pints of blackberries into a pot. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar over the berries and put them on the stove over a low heat. Add in your teaspoon of vanilla extract, which will give a very subtle flavor of comfort in the background. You don’t want to cook the berries, but you do want to give the berries a chance to soften and mingle with the sugar. It’s absolutely acceptable to stir at this point.

After a few moments on the stove, the sugar will start to mix with the berry juices to create a sweet syrup. All of this will only help to intensify the flavor of your cobbler.

Remove the berries from the heat and set them aside for a few moments while we whip up the batter. This next part couldn’t be any easier. First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place 1 stick of unsalted butter in a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish. Yes, the whole stick. If you’re going to make this dessert and truly appreciate the way it was meant to taste, the butter is a necessity. If you skimp on the butter, I can’t be held responsible for the less-than-stellar outcome of your cobbler creation.

Place the baking dish with the butter into the oven while it is still preheating. The gently warming oven will begin to slowly melt your glorious hunk of fat, turning it into a rich, golden liquid.

Keep peeking in the oven, because it will only take a few minutes for your butter to melt. You certainly don’t want to burn it, which can happen very quickly if you’re not paying attention. After a few short moments in the oven, your butter will have gone the way of the Wicked Witch of the West. It will now be a nice puddle of buttery goodness.

My love affair with butter must be pretty obvious at this point. After all, I devoted just as many pictures to the butter-melting process as I did to the actual blackberries themselves. The blackberries are still the stars of this dish, but the butter is certainly a very crucial cobbler co-star. Plus, Paula Deen would be proud of y’all.

Now it’s time to dump the other ingredients into a mixing bowl. Add one cup of self-rising flour and the cup of sugar. Whisk those together until they are combined.

Next, add the cup of whole milk. Now, grab that whisk! It’s time to whisk it. Whisk it good. Now that I’ve gotten that song stuck in your head for the rest of the day, let’s continue.

After a few seconds of vigorous whisking, your batter should look like a nice, smooth mixture.

I love all of the little bubbles that form on the surface. Obviously, up until this point, stirring has not only been encouraged, but it has been necessary. Now, I want you to put that whisk down. Don’t stir. It’s the name of the blog and it applies to the very important step that follows.

Pour your mixed flour, sugar, and milk into the baking dish on top of your melted butter. Try to distribute it as evenly as you can. Use a spatula to get out every last drop. Then, DON’T STIR!

Resist every single urge you may have to fiddle with this mixture. Let it sit. Put down the whisk or spoon. Finally, add your softened berries and their juice to the baking dish. Spoon the berries evenly on top of the batter and butter. Try to get some berries in every single part of the dish.

It may look a little odd at this point. Your gut may be imploring you to give everything a mighty stir so things don’t look so disjointed. Whatever you do, don’t stir!

Savor the simplicity of it. Savor the colors of it. Savor the smells of it. Just don’t stir it!

It’s time to get it ready for the oven.

Place the cobbler in your preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when the top turns a golden-brown color and your kitchen smells like sweet summertime. If the top isn’t turning golden brown for you after 30-40 minutes, you can place it under the broiler for a minute or so – but if you go that route, stand by the oven with the door cracked so you can pull it out the instant it is brown. You would hate to lose the cobbler at this point. There’s no bigger cobbler catastrophe than a burned crust.

When it’s finished, your final product will look like this:

The buttery crust will have risen to the top. The blackberries will be peeking out from underneath the craggy crust. Your berries will have released some of their juice creating a sweet sauce in the bottom of the pan. Ideally, you would let this cool for a few moments and then dig in. While it’s still warm, add a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and get ready to ascend to the heavens. Enjoy the contrast of sweetness and tartness, crunchiness and softness, and the warm cobbler against the cold ice cream. Sure you’ll be picking seeds out of your teeth for the next week. Enjoy it, because each seed will provide you with a warm reminder of your scrumptious creation. Instead of being annoyed by these straggling seeds, you’ll be happy. You’ll smile as you fondly flick that seed with your tongue and remember the cobbler that transports you to straight to summertime. A time when life slows down and memories are made.

To stir, or not to stir? That is the question. Now you know the answer.

Happy seed picking,

The Taste Bud

Krazy for Kale

Kale. The luscious and leafy green vegetable that has been unceremoniously garnishing plates at restaurants across the country for decades. I can distinctly remember going out to dinner as a child and being so offended by that “green stuff” that was always on my plate – so offended that I would promptly pick it up and place it on the table beside my plate. Heaven forbid it actually touched any of the good food that was waiting for me. Of course, the kale was merely on the plate as decoration, or a garnish. it was an afterthought. A sad, sad afterthought. That’s how I felt about kale for all of my childhood years and many of my adult years. It never even dawned on me that you could actually eat the stuff! So, why eat kale? Well for starters, it actually does have a wonderful taste when it’s cooked properly. Perhaps even more importantly, it’s absolutely loaded with nutrients and vitamins. Also appealing to this penny-pinching cook, it’s extremely inexpensive. There are many different applications for cooking kale, but today I’m going to write about my favorite – the kale chip. These chips have brought kale out of the dungeon and thrust them straight into the spotlight.

Speaking of the spotlight, working in television requires me to keep quite unusual hours. On most nights I’m getting home just before midnight. Perfect timing for a true midnight snack! This is where the trouble begins. I’m always tempted to go for the potato chips (bet I can’t eat just one…bag). Obviously this isn’t the best habit to be in before my nightly slumber, so what if I could substitute my favorite potato chips with something a bit healthier? Something that would still give me the satisfying crunchy, salty bite that I crave at that hour, without all of the guilt. Kale now enters the picture. Stay with me.

Here’s what you’ll need to make the perfect potato chip substitute:

1 bunch of kale
Salt & pepper
Olive oil
A lemon wedge (optional)

Fairly simple and straightforward, no? First you need to get your kale prepped for the oven. Give it a nice rinse and pat the leaves completely dry. This is a very important step. If you don’t remove as much of the water as possible, your kale will get soggy instead of crispy. Nobody wants a soggy chip! Now you’ll want to peel the kale off of the big, thick stem running right down the middle. The stem isn’t edible, so remove the leafy green parts and discard the stem. Tear the leafy green pieces until they’re a little bit bigger than bite-sized chunks. They’ll shrink quite a bit in the oven once they start cooking. Place the torn pieces of kale on a baking sheet that you’ve lined with aluminum foil.

They’re almost ready for the oven, but we are missing one critical step. These guys need some seasoning to make sure they’ll taste super when you pull them out of the oven. Give them a healthy drizzle of olive oil and then as much salt and pepper as your taste buds prefer. If you want your kale chips to have a little bit of a bite, squeeze some fresh lemon juice on them at this point. Then get in there with your hands and mix it all together. Try to make sure that each kale chip has some of the olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

The chips are ready to be baked. Place them in a preheated 325 degree oven, but don’t go too far because you’ll need to keep an eye on them. There’s a fine line between creating a kale chip and a kale krisp. One is nice and the other isn’t. After about 8 or 9 minutes of baking, pull the pan out and give them a stir. They’ll need about 8 or 9 more minutes before they are completely finished. Once they have completed the cooking process, your baking sheet full of kale chips should look like this:

The kale has gone through a total transformation. The edges will be brown and crisp. The flavor profile will also be totally different. What once was a bitter green will now take on a nutty and caramelized flavor. It’s amazing what that 16-20 minutes in the oven can do! Now it’s time to plate them up!

They really won’t need much additional seasoning. If you want to glam them up a bit, you could sprinkle some freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top while they are still warm. Otherwise, they are good to eat just like they are. You can make a big batch and then store the leftovers in containers, so when the urge for a salty, crunchy snack hits, you’ll be ready!

It’s time we stopped thinking about kale as a garnish. It’s a versatile, tasty, inexpensive, and healthy vegetable, so let’s give it the respect it deserves. Going krazy for something can be a good thing and this is certainly one of those times. Your taste buds will thank you. This Taste Bud will thank you.

Happy eating,

The Taste Bud

Hestiaphobia

Hestia-who? What-a-phobia? I thought this was a food blog? What’s with all of the questions? Let me give you some answers…

Hestia was the Greek goddess of the hearth. The hearth is where most of the baking was done in ancient Greece, so those with hestiaphobia have a fear of baking. While I may not suffer from full-blown hestiaphobia, I certainly do have hestiaphobic tendencies. While I may be one of the first to gobble down some delicious fresh-baked goodies, I’ll be one of the last to actually cook them in my kitchen? Why the fear?

Baking is so methodical. It’s so calculated. It’s so precise.

Just add 1/32 teaspoon of baking powder – no more, no less! Wait, is that baking powder or baking soda? Uh-oh. Did you sift that flour? Is your butter cold enough? Are those eggs precisely room temperature? You’re going to try and make that today with this high humidity? Did you adjust your baking times for your different elevation? What is my elevation anyway? I’m practically breaking out in hives already. No wonder it’s a very rare occasion when I actually do decide to conquer my hestiaphobia and crank out some delicious baked goods.

Typically, I don’t shy away from recipes that require multiple steps, lots of chopping and dicing, and plenty of stirring and simmering. With baking though, all bets are off. For this cook, simple is best. The fewer ingredients the better. You can imagine my delight (and skepticism) when I stumbled across a recipe online that claimed you could make a light and fluffy cake with just two ingredients, with a cooking time of only 30 minutes. With more than a bit of doubt, but lots of hopefulness, I set out to the store to pick up the ingredients. Would I be able to satisfy my sweet tooth and quell my hestiaphobia all at the same time? If not, I had a bounty of ice cream in the freezer just in case, so there would be no love lost. Now time for Brantley’s Baking 101 – preheat and pray.

Here are the ingredients:

1 box of angel food cake mix

1 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple

That’s it! Now this is my kind of baking. You don’t need measuring spoons or measuring cups. You don’t need eggs or oil. For goodness sake you don’t need different kinds of flour and baking powder. All you need is a mixing bowl and a 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan (sorry for that scary part). Let’s get started.

Empty the contents of the angel food cake mix into a bowl. Dump in the can of crushed pineapple with the juice. Mix it up. Don’t add any water. No eggs. No oil. Disregard anything on the box of the cake mix. You only need the mix and the pineapple with its juice. Interesting things will start to happen at this point. The mix will start to grow in volume and get quite foamy. This is perfectly normal. Once you’ve mixed it for about 30 seconds, it will look like this…

Is this easy enough so far? Believe it or not, that’s about as difficult as it gets. Now just spray your 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan (sorry for that again) with some non-stick cooking spray so your cake won’t stick and transfer the contents of your bowl to your baking dish.

Now just slam that stuff into a preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. When it’s done, the top will turn a golden brown. You could insert a knife or toothpick in the center to see if it comes out clean. If it does, you’re good to go! If not, let it have another minute or two in the oven.

Remove it from the oven and slice it into pieces, squares, slices, or whatever shape you like. I served mine with a nice scoop of vanilla bean ice cream that I had waiting in the freezer in case this endeavor turned out to be a failure. I didn’t know what to expect when I had that first bite, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. It may not be the most amazing baked good you’ve ever consumed, but for what it’s worth, it wasn’t too shabby.

For this cook who suffers from mild episodes of hestiaphobia, it was comforting to know that I could pull this off. I think you could too. So are you ready to conquer your fear? If so, I think this recipe is the way to go. It’ll boost your culinary confidence. It’ll impress your family. After all, they don’t need to know how easy this was. But most importantly, it’ll satisfy your sweet tooth. For this hestiaphobic guy, that’s really all that matters at the end of the day.

Until next time,

The Taste Bud