Monday, June 30, 2008

Lemon Chess

I made a Bill Clinton Lemon Chess pie for a picnic this weekend. This recipe was chosen for two reasons. First, I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so I prefer desserts on the sour side. And second, I knew I could actually find the needed ingredients - pie shell, eggs, butter, sugar, lemons, cornmeal and flour.

What is a chess? The best explanation I could find is that its a traditional southern dessert...Not totally descriptive (my husband is still confused) but...It is what it is.

A cake is a cake.
A pie is a pie.
A chess is a chess.


I made a couple of salads too. One was 'for the kids' - noodles, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, black olives, and cheddar cheese smothered in ranch dressing.

The other was a potato salad. I didn't want to boil the potatoes and make the standard mayo dressing - even though Chef Colicchio would tell me that "that's what keeps it fresh you know"...So I cubed the nyt-super-friske Danish potatoes and sauteed them in the stove top with olive oil, S&P, and oregano. They got just soft enough and browned. Then I let them cool on the counter before packing them up.

I have some paprika salad dressing spice packets, and I mixed one of those with some vegetable oil and balsamic vinegar, and packed that away separately. Before serving at the picnic I added the oil dressing, some chopped fresh red scallion onions (Danish and oh so beautiful), and lots of chopped parsley. I didn't reheat, but served it cold. This dish probably went the quickest.

No comments: