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♦ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2006 4C Pecans offer many gourmet cooking options From Staff Reports This year’s Georgia pecan crop is smaller than usual according to the University of Georgia Extension Service, but that’s all the more reason to treat the south’s favorite nut with all due respect. Here are some gourmet recipes created by chefs around the country from the Georgia Pecan Commission Jasper’s Missouri Apple and Georgia Pecan Tart By Chef Jasper J.Mirabile Jr., Jasper’s Ristorante, Kansas City, Mo. Serves 10 Pecan Crust: 1 1/2 cups flour 1 cup chopped Georgia pecans 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter Filling: 4 cups fresh Missouri or Granny Smith Apples 1 cup sugar 1 tablespoon cinnamon 2 tablespoons flour 1 egg 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup (8 oz) Mascarpone cheese Topping: 1/3 cup flour Sweet treat, in defiance of the season Everyone have a good Thanksgiving? Yeah, we won’t be craving a turkey sub anytime soon at our house, either. It’s great to see all the family, catch up on the news and stand amazed that your young nephew somehow now stands an inch taller than you. And the Thanksgiving food - the turkey, the dressing, the hearty casseroles and, of course, the pies -- is wonder ful but often leaves me feel ing weighed down. Even an hour on the tread mill isn’t going to burn all of those calories anytime soon. After a few days of that heavy Thanksgiving-style food, a bit of lighter fare is needed. My wife thought strawberry shortcake might be just the thing. It would have been if it were early summer, but strawberries aren’t in sea son in November. Sure, we live in America and that means everything is in sea son somewhere, so strawber ries were in the store. The problem is that straw berries now are hard, juice less and even a tad bitter. So I decided to play a little bit in the kitchen. Judy had purchased a 16- ounce container of straw berries and some pre-made shortcakes. I started by removing the tops from the strawberries and slicing each in half lengthwise. These hard berries need ed juice and sweetening. A simple syrup was in order. As the name implies, it can’t be any simpler than taking iMowtum 'umtitMum ■xusmrJlf**VM j» w mwm&xi/g? wwwwwww mipp w -'ww.'J'' -■' 1111 take* care? oft vo un holiday# meals !f '' ■■" "" X ■**# j Place your orders now to pick up your holiday feast from the New Perry Hotel Casserole Shop. We are offering the following choices: Entrees: Turkey and Dressing ~ Barbecued Pulled Pork ~ Chicken Salad ~ Shrimp Salad ~ Chicken Tetrazini Soups; Crab and Corn Bisque ~ Chili ~ Seafood Gumbo ~ Brunswick Stew Side items: Sweet Potato Souffle ~ Green Beans ~ Maccaroni & Cheese ~ Potato Salad ~ Shredded Yams ~ Corn Pudding ~ Twice Baked Potato Casserole ~ Broccoli Souffle Desserts: Pecan Pie ~ Lemon Chess Pie ~ White Chocolate Cheese Cake 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup finely chopped Georgia pecans 1 teaspoon cinnamon 4 tablespoons cold but ter To make Pecan Crust, heat oven to 400°F. Combine flour, pecans, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Chop cold butter into small pieces and add to flour mixture; cut in butter until well blended and crumbly. Press dough into bottom of a 9-inch tart pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until edges just begin to turn golden. Meanwhile prepare Filling: Slice apples, sprin kle with 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon and let stand. Combine remaining 3/4 cup sugar, the flour, egg, vanilla, and salt until blended. Fold in mascarpone cheese. Add apples to mixture and pour Filling into pre-baked tart crust. Reduce temperature to 350°F and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare Topping: Combine flour, sugar, pecans, and cinna mon. Chop cold butter into small pieces and add to flour mixture; cut and rub in but ter until well blended and crumbly. Sprinkle topping over tart and return to oven. Increase heat to 400°F and bake for 10 minutes longer. Cool until just warm before equal parts water and sugar and boiling them together. 1 eyeballed this whole pro cess, so I am guessing it was 3/4 cups of water and 3/4 cups sugar. Once that was boiling and the sugar was dissolved, I turned the heat to medium, added a handful of berries to the syrup and let them turn to a mush. The berries needed to break down. You have to keep an eye on the pot to make sure that it doesn’t boil over. That would be one sticky mess. Dan MacDonald Columnist Morris News Service While the syrup was bub bling away, I placed about five or six strawberry halves in each cup and set them aside. I put the rest of the strawberries into a food processor and pureed them, using the pulse button. I didn’t want to liquefy them; rather, I wanted the result to be a bit chunky. When you go to all this trouble, store-bought whipped cream won’t do. 800 Carroll St. - Perry, GA (478) 987-1073 slicing. Source: Georgia Pecan Commission Wild Rice Salad with Pecans and Preserved Fruits By Executive Chef Peter Repak, eatZi’s Gourmet Market & Bakery, Chicago, 111. Serves 8 3/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice 2 tablespoons sugar 1 large lemon, juiced (about 1/3 cup) 1/8 cup plus 2 table spoons olive oil 1 shallot, minced 2/3 cup Georgia Pecan halves, cut in half length wise Vi tsp dried tarragon 1/4 cup dried cranber ries 1/4 cup dried apricots, diced 1/4 cup midget raisins or dried currants 2 1/2 cups cooked wild rice, cooled 2 1/2 cups cooked long grain brown rice, cooled 6 green onions, trimmed and sliced thin Kosher salt White pepper Prepare dressing: Place the fresh squeezed orange juice and sugar in a small pot and reduce by half. Chill, then add the juice from the lemon and the 2 tablespoons Judy didn’t understand why until she tasted my con coction. I poured about 8 ounces of heavy cream into a cooled metal mixing bowl and added about 2 tablespoons of vanil la extract. I used a stand mixer for this, but a whisk and a strong wrist would have whipped the cream in less than 5 minutes. (I know because that’s how I did it to top my pumpkin pie Thanksgiving day.) Once the cream became billowy and a bit stiff, I poured some of the straw berry puree into it just enough to turn the white whipped cream to a slightly pink hue. Now it was time to pour the rest of the puree into the simple syrup and stir that mixture well. I then spooned that over the halved straw berries and the shortcake, and topped each cup with a generous mound of whipped cream. The result was a sweet treat full of flavor. The sauce added the sweetness and juicy texture I wanted and pushed these hard berries to fulfill their flavor potential. I’ve read that berries were served at the first Thanksgiving. But I doubt that they resembled this dessert. Sutarla May! Cal 987-1H23 FOOD olive oil and set aside. In large skillet, heat 1/8 cup olive oil and saut£ shal lots until slightly tender; add the pecans and toast in the pan for 2 to 3 minutes on medium. Add the tarragon and all of the dried fruits. Cook slowly for another 5 minutes or so. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill this mixture. 3. Once all components are cold, mix the rice, fruit mixture, green onions, and dressing. Season to taste with kosher salt and white pepper. Source: Georgia Pecan Commission Lentil, Pear and Georgia Pecan Romaine Salad Adapted from “Country Weekend Entertaining” (Doubleday) by Anna Pump, chef-owner Loaves and Fishes, Sagaponack, New York Serves 8 Salad Mixture: 1 1/2 cups apple juice 4 cups water 2 cups lentils 6 garlic cloves, peeled 2 large white onions, halved 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 red onion 2 ripe green or red pears 3 cups thinly sliced cel ery Tasting report from food, wine celebration This week I’ll share some tasting notes and impressions of some of the wines I sampled at this year’s Food and Wine Celebration in Springfield, Mo. Most of these either were wines that I had not previously tasted, or were newer vintages. I was curious to taste as many of the Fess Parker “Santa Barbara County” wines as I could and see what Daniel Boone is up to these days. Although they certainly weren’t terrible, I was disappointed that they didn’t stand out or seem to match some of the press they have received in recent years. The Santa Barbara County Chardonnay was very ordinary and noth ing about it separated it from many other California Chards. It had reasonable balance considering it’s very high alcohol content (14.9 percent), and not too much oak, but it’s finish was short and didn’t leave much of an overall impression. The Santa Barbara County White Riesling seemed very thin and lacked character. It certainly didn’t compare to most German or Pacific Northwest expressions of nttwSKag Run Your Employment. Ad W#*#» Urn, And You’ll Find Them! $SJ BO per line per day sl3°° per column inch display GILBERT APPLIANCE, INC. 925 Jernigan St., • Perry, GA 478-987-2284 BFRIGIDAIRF ALL FRIGIDAIRE LAUNDRY APPLIANCES Marked Down To Be Moved Out. 00041437 1 cup toasted Georgia pecan halves 1 large head romaine lettuce Dressing: 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1/3 cup olive oil 1 teaspoon salt 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Combine apple juice and water in a large pot. Add the lentils, garlic, white onion halves, and salt. Cook, cov ered, over medium heat 35 minutes. Drain lentils, dis carding garlic and onion. Set lentils aside to cool. Meanwhile, cut red onion crosswise into thin slices and separate the slices into rings. Halve the pears, remove core and thinly slice. In a large bowl, combine onion rings, pear slices, celery, pecans, and lentils. Cut romaine into bite-size pieces and add to lentil mixture. To make the Dressing, combine the ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake well. Just before serving, pour dressing over salad and mix well. Taste for seasoning and serve. Georgia Pecan Secret Agent Raspberry Bars Reprinted from “It’s About Time” cookbook (Steerforth Press) by Michael Schlow, Riesling in terms of body or flavor structure. The Santa Barbara Pinot Noir was a reasonable expression of the grape with good acid ity and structure but didn’t justify the mid twenties price, in my opinion. These wines should appeal to people who are looking for big new world wines, but I prefer a little more subtlety and something memorable when I choose a wine. The 2003 Hecula Yecla was a Spanish red that didn’t disappoint. This fruity, but complex cuvee is made from 100 percent Mourvedre (called Monastrell in Spain). It has an excellent nose and a unique flavor profile of tart cherry and dark ber ries, earth, and something I couldn’t put my finger on. Although this wine is also high in alcohol at 14 per cent, the acidity creates a RANGES AS LOW AS $275.00 HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL executive chef and co owner Radiuß, Via Matta, and Great Bay restaurants, Boston, Mass. Makes 24 2-inch squares 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened 1/2 cup sugar 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/3 cup chopped Georgia pecans 1/4 teaspoon almond extract 1/4 teaspoon salt 8 ounces (1 cup) seed less raspberry preserves 1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut Heat oven to 350 degrees. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until blend ed. Add flour and mix well. Add pecans, almond extract, and salt, stirring until flour mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1 cup of mixture. Press remaining flour mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 13- by 9-inch baking dish. Spread rasp berry preserves evenly over crust. Sprinkle reserved flour mixture on top, then top with coconut. Bake until crust and top ping are golden—about 30 minutes. Cool completely, then cut into squares. Source: Georgia Pecan Commission mouthwatering juiciness that invites food and a sec ond glass. Altos from Argentina always makes wines that I like and their Malbec is no exception. Ifyou don’t know what Argentinian Malbec is all about, this is a good one to get you started. This dark, red wine shows good character with bal anced tannins over plums and earth, with that rustic edge that sets Malbec apart from other reds. Try it with grilled meats or hearty stews. Mirassou Pinot Noir is a value red that a reader recommended and I tried it with a sample of prime rib and found it quite enjoy able. It showed true Pinot character and for the $lO price, I had no complaints. Another pleasant sur prise was Alexander Valley Vineyards’ Merlot. Merlot comes in a couple of differ ent styles and this one fits in the category that I like. This Merlot is deeper in color and carries a hefty punch of fruit, spice and suppleness. The tannins are present, but balanced, and the oak adds hints of vanilla as part of a well crafted wine. «S#l# Brian Goodell The Wine Guy- Morris News Service Lirl« Ads Deadline: 2 days prior at «pm Display Ads Deadline: 2 days prior- at Moon <To« U,At or (tors O 78-SSS-OI»« or o/oo It! nlcmoceoaoioo/ropoi no 1W040185