Kentucky has a rich culinary heritage steeped in country farm food likepinto beans,country ham, beaten biscuits and burgoo. But today, it's also full of chefs and restaurants who spin new variations on old themes, who celebrate the agricultural bounty and heritage of the commonwealth in modernized form.
Both sides of Kentucky cooking are represented in a new book from Fort WrightresidentMaggie Green. She was asked by Farcountry Press to write "Tasting Kentucky: Favorite Recipes from the Bluegrass State." The Montana-based publisher has specialized until now in books about Western national parks and state cookbooks. This was the first they've commissioned featuring a state east of the Mississippi.
After all, a lot's going on in Kentucky. For the book, Green scoured the state to get recipesfrom chefs like Louisville's Edward Lee (who contributed a recipe for Bourbon and co*ke Meatloaf sandwich)to restaurants like Otto's in Covington (whose shrimp and grits is pictured on the cover), and the fiverestaurants from Chef Ouita Michelin and around Lexington.
Green and Michel are old friends, meeting asGirl Scouts in Lexington. Michel is the ultimate Kentucky chef, preserving traditional foodways while finding new ways to present them. Recipes in the book from her restaurants include Whitesburg Soup Beans, a simple stew of pintosfrom Midway's Wallace Station Deli, and extra-creamy cheese grits from the Holly Hill Inn, also in Midway. She also contributes the traditional unsweetened buttermilk cornbread of Kentucky, as it was made before everyone started making it as sweet as cake.
This is Green's second cookbook – she also wrote the "Kentucky Fresh Cookbook" – but she has played an important role over the years in new editions of "The Joy of Cooking" and in its website, developing scores of recipes for theclassic book. As she says in the introduction to the book, she's a passionate native of Kentucky. "From root to tip, stem to stern, among the people and on the land, Kentucky is where I belong."
Some of the recipes in the book are simple, short and easy to prepare at home.
"All the photographs are of the dishes just as I made them in my home kitchen," said Green. All you need to make the bourbon slushfrom The Tousey House Tavern in Burlington is frozen juice,bourbon and tea, and for the Bourbon Mashed Potatoes from Azur in Lexington, you only have to be willing to trust that Kentucky bourbon and Boursin cheese while make a good potato puree.
Some are more restaurant-y and complicated, but Green promises they're worth trying, like the Kentucky summer tacos with fried okra, corn salad and blackberries from Home Cafe and Marketplace in Bowling Green. Advanced cooks can follow the recipe for Fresh Bierwurst from Wunderbar in Covington.
Green asked Paul Weckmann of Otto's for his recipe for Shrimp and Grits, and later found out theywent to the same elementary school in Lexington (though not at the same time). The Otto's recipe for shrimp and grits has never been publishedbefore, and if you've had it at the Covington cafe, you may feel knowing how to make it at home is worth the price of the cookbook.
Owner Paul Weckmann saysit's one of their most popular dishes, on themenu since they opened. "It's one of those dishes that we cannever take off the menu," said Weckmann. It involves several steps, but isn't especially difficult. Green says the grits are worth making by themselves, and you can simply serve them immediately after cooking them, rather than refrigerating and slicing.
Otto's Shrimp and Grits
From Otto's in Covington
Grits cake:
3¼cups water
2 tablespoons butter
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¾ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons yellow grits
½ cup shredded Cheddar cheese
⅓ cup blue cheese crumbles
¼ cup chopped cooked bacon (about 3 slices)
¼cup chopped green onion (about 2 onions)
¼ cup flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Shrimp
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped red onion
3 tablespoons chopped yellow onion
1 cup sliced shiitake mushrooms
3 tablespoons chopped roasted red pepper
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
16 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon capers
1 ½ tablespoons blackening seasoning
1 ½ tablespoons minced garlic
2 cups dry white wine
1 cup very thinly sliced spinach leaves
3 tablespoons chopped green onion
4 tablespoons butter, cut into slices
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
For the grits cake:
Grease a 9 x 9 x 3-inch baking pan
In a saucepan, combine the water, butter, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Gradually stir in the grits and continue to stir until all the water is absorbed and the grits become thick but are still smooth, about 5 minutes. Add the Cheddar and blue cheeses, bacon, and green onion. Stir until thoroughly mixed. While hot, pour the grits into the prepared pan. Refrigerate to cool and allow the grits to set.
For the shrimp:
In a large cast-iron skillet, heat the olive oil over high heat. Add the red onion, yellow onion and shiitake mushrooms. Allow to caramelize slightly, about 5 minutes.
Add the red pepper, tomatoes, shrimp, capers and blackening seasoning. Stir to coat, and keep the skillet moving around on the heat.
Once the shrimp is seared on both sides, add the garlicand saute for 10 seconds. Stir in the wine to deglaze the pan. Allow wine to reduce for about 3 minutes, until slightly thickened.
Remove from heat. Stir in spinach, green onion and butter. Stir until butter is melted and sauce appears glossy. Add salt and pepper and adjust to taste.
To assemble:
Just before serving, cut the grits into four squares. Coat both sides of each grits cake in flour.
Preheat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Pan-fry the grits cake until golden brown and hot, about 3 minutes each side.
Place one grits cake in a shallow bowl or on a plate. Serve covered with the shrimp sauce.
Serves 4
Woodford Salad with Bourbon-Sorghum Vinaigrette
Kentucky is famous for the Bibb lettuce. Sorghum is a traditional sweet syrup made from a kind of grass. Find it at farm markets at stores that sell Kentucky Proud products.
2 heads Kentucky Limestone Bibb lettuce
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
2 navel oranges, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
Bourbon-sorghum vinaigrette
Break the leaves from the heads of Bibb lettuce and strip out any tough stems or core. Divide among four salad plates, with the largest leaves on the bottom so the lettuce loosely forms a stack. Garnish with the red onion, oranges slices, pecans and cheese. Drizzle with bourbon-sorghum vinaigrette and serve immediately.
Serves 4
Bourbon-sorghumvinaigrette:
1 cup malt vinegar
1 scant tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
Dash Crystal hot sauce
1 tablespoon grated onion
10 Tablespoons Kentucky sorghum
1/2 cup Woodford Reserve Kentucky Bourbon
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vegetable oil.
In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, salt, paprika, hot sauce and grated onion. Warm the sorghum in a microwave oven on medium power, then stir into the vinegar mixture along with the bourbon. Slowly whisk in the oils to thicken the dressing.
Popcorn Soup
From The Trustees'Table at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill
2 ½ cups fresh corn (from about 5 ears)
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
½ medium onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons flour
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup half and half
2 ½ cups milk
Popped popcorn for garnish
In a saucepan, cook the corn in 1 cup of milk until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove to a heatproof bowl.
In the same saucepan, melt the butter, add the onion, and cook until soft. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper. Stir in the half-and-half, additional 2 1/2 cups milk, and cooked corn.
Bring to a low boil and let the soup slightly thicken. Sprinkle with popcorn and serve hot.
Serves 6
Blackberry Jam Cupcakes
From Maggie Green, The Green Apron Company
4 cups flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 ½ cups seedless blackberry jam
¾ cup buttermilk
Soft caramel frosting
6 tablespoons butter
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 ¾ cup powdered sugar
15 fresh blackberries
¼ cup granulated sugar
Makes 15 jumbo-size (2 ¼ inch) cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a jumbo cupcake pan with large cupcake papers.
For the blackberry jam cupcakes:
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and ground cloves.
With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the jam. Add the flour and spice mixture to the creamed butter mixture, alternating with the buttermilk and beginning and ending with the flour.
Fill cupcake liners three-fourths full with batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 33 to 35 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove to wire racks to finish cooling.
For the soft caramel frosting
In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Turn off the heat and mix in the brown sugar and milk until the brown sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. With a mixer, stir in the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. The frosting will set up as it cools. Once the cupcakes are cool, spread with the frosting. Roll the blackberries in granulated sugar and garnish each cupcake with a sugared blackberry.
