Kitchen Kapers with Nancy

Chef John from AllRecipes.com says to have your prime rib out of the refrigerator for six hours at least to come up to room temperature. The math won’t work if the roast is cold. 

Alice Beth Miner, who passed several years ago and who was a dear friend of all Apopkans, shares her Potatoes Del Monico through the Apopka Historical Society’s Preserving the Big Potato publication of mostly potato recipes.  

Collards from Southern Living is a recipe I’ve used and loved for years. Here is a recipe from Jane Bradley in Southern Style. Bradley says, “Stories abound as to how hush puppies got their name. The most often heard is the story of Georgia hunters who were enjoying the fish they had just caught. Their hounds were making such a fuss that the men made up a cornmeal batter and fried it in the skillets the fish had been fried in. They threw the bits of fried cornmeal to the hounds, saying, “Hush, puppies!”.   

Mrs. Emily Meggett shares her recipe for Peach Pie, which serves 10. It has a 9-inch pie crust. We found this pie recipe in her book Gullah Geechee Home Cooking along with her recipe for pie crust. 

CHEF JOHN’S PERFECT PRIME RIB 
Recipe from Allrecipes.com 

Multiply the weight of the prime rib by 5 minutes. If your prime rib roast weighs 4 pounds, multiply by 5, which equals 20 minutes; 5.5 pounds 27-1/2 minutes rounded up to 28 minutes. Have your oven preheated to 500 degrees before putting the meat in the oven. 

Mix in a bowl, 1/4 cup room-temperature unsalted butter and herbs de Provence (rosemary, thyme, and other Mediterranean herbs) along with a tablespoon of black pepper. Spread this softened, seasoned butter mixture all over the surface of the room-temperature roast; sprinkle kosher salt all over the buttered roast. Put your roast into the 500-degree oven for however many minutes you have figured, then turn off the oven after that many minutes. Leave the roast in the hot oven. DO NOT PEEK! Don’t even touch the oven door. Set your timer for two hours. Leave the roast in the oven for those two hours to finish cooking. Then you can take it out of the oven. It will be warm for serving. You don’t have to let it sit for more time. It will be a perfectly cooked medium-rare prime rib roast. 

Chef John says, however, you must have a full-sized, modern oven with a digital temperature setting that indicates when it is preheated. Older ovens with manual controls can vary greatly, and the doors may not have the proper insulation.  

ALICE BETH MINER’S POTATOES DEL MONICO 
Recipe from Apopka Historical Society’s Preserving the Big Potato – A Collection of Potato Recipes

9 medium size red potatoes parboiled 
1/2 pound sharp cheddar cheese, grated 
1 teaspoon dry mustard 
1-1/2 teaspoon salt 
Dash pepper 
Dash nutmeg 
1 cup heavy cream 
1 cup milk 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Peel and grate potatoes and place in a buttered 1-1/2 quart casserole. 

In a 1-quart saucepan, combine cheese, mustard, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cream, and milk. Stir over low heat until cheese melts. Pour over potatoes. Do not stir. Bake uncovered 45 to 60 minutes. This can be assembled in advance and refrigerated, covered. Bring to room temperature and bake as above.  

SOUTHERN LIVING’S COLLARD GREENS 

12 hickory-smoked bacon slices, finely chopped 
2 medium-size sweet onions, finely chopped 
3/4 pound smoked ham, chopped 
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped 
3 (32-ounce) containers chicken broth 
3 pounds fresh collard greens, washed and trimmed 
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar 
1 tablespoon sugar 
1 teaspoon salt 
3/4 teaspoon pepper 

Cook bacon in a 10-quart stockpot over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes or until almost crisp. Add onion, and sauté 8 minutes; add ham and garlic, and sauté 1 minute. Stir in broth and remaining ingredients. Cook 2 hours or to desired degree of tenderness. 

HUSH PUPPIES 
Recipe from Southern Style by Jane Bradley 

1-1/2 cups fine white cornmeal 
3 tablespoons flour 
1 teaspoon sugar 
1 teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
2 tablespoons butter, lard, or shortening, melted 
2 eggs, beaten 
1 cup buttermilk (additional may be needed) 
2 tablespoons finely minced onion 
Oil or shortening for deep frying 

1) In a medium bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir to blend. Add melted butter or lard or shortening; beaten eggs; buttermilk; minced onion and stir to blend. Mixture must be moist but must also hold its shape on a spoon. 2) Heat oil to 375 degrees Fahrenheit in a deep-fat fryer or large saucepan. Oil needs to be about 2 to 2-1/2 inches deep. 3) Dip spoon into the oil or shortening, scoop up about a tablespoon of batter and push batter into the hot oil with another spoon. Don’t crowd the fryer or saucepan; the hush puppies will fry more evenly and will float and stop sizzling when cooked through. 4) Turn frequently until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. You can keep warm in a 250-degree oven until all the mixture has been cooked. 

NOTE: If too much liquid is used, the hush puppies will not hold their shape and won’t cook through. If not enough liquid is used, the hush puppies will be irregularly and roughly shaped and will not be light and fluffy. Test your mixture by cooking one hush puppy and either add another tablespoon of cornmeal or another tablespoon of water or buttermilk, as needed. Serves: 6 to 8. 

EMILY MEGGETT’S PEACH PIE 
Recipe from Gullah Geechee Home Cooking by Emily Meggett 

6 peaches (about 2 pounds), peeled, pitted, and sliced 
3/4 cup granulated or packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces 
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 
Juice from 1/2 lemon 
Unbaked pie crust dough, one half of the dough used to line a 9-inch pie dish, one half rolled out for the top crust 

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 2) Put the peaches in a mixing bowl with the sugar, butter, flour, and lemon juice. Stir until the peaches are covered. 3) Transfer to the unbaked pie crust. Cover the top with pie crust and pinch the pie crusts together around the rim to seal. With a fork or toothpick, punch a few holes in the top pie crust. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling.