• 10 slices of 1″ thick French bread
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup half & half (or milk)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

In a 13×9 glass baking dish, start with melted butter, then add the dark brown sugar, spreading evenly over the bottom of the dish. Top the sugar with the pecans and drizzle the pecans with the maple syrup. Next, arrange the bread slices on top of the pecans.

In a mixing bowl, combine the beaten eggs, half & half, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract. Blend well, then pour over the bread slices. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

To cook and serve, remove the casserole from the frig and let it warm up while the oven is preheating to 350F. Uncover and bake the casserole for approximately 30 minutes, until golden brown. Serve with a spatula, by flipping the slices onto your plate, so all the praline mix at the bottom ends up on top of your toast. Garnish with fresh fruit. If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

This recipe can be made with raw corn, like many corn salad recipes are, but I like the corn a little more tender and a little less starchy. That’s why I blanch the corn. Canned corn is over-cooked, and while it will work if you need a quick salad for a last minute party, it won’t be as fresh tasting. You can also used grilled corn for a smokier flavored salad (perfect with BBQ), and you can change the whole flavor profile from southwestern to Italian simply by using fresh chopped basil instead of fresh chopped cilantro!

• 5 ears of fresh corn, shucked
• 2 cups zucchini chopped into a small dice or quartered lengthwise and then sliced thin
• 1/2 tsp sea salt or Kosher salt
• 1/2 cup finely diced red onion
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (for southwestern style) or chopped basil leaves (for Italian style)
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• 1/4 tsp minced garlic (or 1 clove)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil on the stovetop and cook the corn for 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat, drain and then immerse the corn into ice cold water to stop the cooking process. Once the corn has cooled enough to handle, cut the kernels from the cob into a large bowl.

Add to the corn, the remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. The longer it marinates in the refrigerator, the better it will taste, so you can make it an hour before eating, or make it the day before.

Not knowing what to expect, we thought this would be a pain in the ^&*!! but it was actually quite easy and very tasty. It reminded me of an artisan pizza from a pricey restaurant, perhaps because of the toppings we used, but the crust turned out thin and slightly crisp, like a pizza cooked in a wood-fired oven.

I can gladly offer a crust recipe to you, but all I did was pick up a powdered pizza crust mix from Walmart (it was even their brand) and followed the directions, which were basically “add water and stir”. Once you’ve got the dough together you will need to shape it. Start by flouring or lightly dusting with corn meal, a cutting board (better yet if you have a cookie sheet without sides, that’s ideal, because you can use it to transfer to and from the grill).

Once you’ve shaped your dough (it doesn’t have to be totally round as mine wasn’t), put it on a lightly floured (or corn meal dusted) sheet pan for grilling.

Make sure the grill is clean and spray it with cooking spray, then turn it on wide open. Once the grill is hot (when you can’t hold your hand over it for more than 2 seconds), slide the dough off the cookie sheet onto the grill and close the lid. Cook for 2 minutes.

After 2 minutes, open the grill and check underneath the dough to see if it is getting browned. If it is on one side, but not another, use a spatula or tongs to rotate the dough 90 degrees and cook for another minute. If it is not beginning to brown, cover the grill and continue to cook a minute at a time until the bottom has begun to brown. It should only take a couple minutes if you have a hot grill. The top of the pizza dough will start bubbling up with air pockets.

Once the pizza dough has browned lightly on one side, use your cookie sheet or pizza peel to remove it from the grill. Use a spatula to flip the dough over so that the grilled side is now up. Keep the grill covered so it retains its heat for the next step.

Transfer your pizza back onto the cookie sheet or cutting board. Now add your toppings. We used pesto sauce from a jar, some diced chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and some fresh, un-stretched Mozzarella cheese (purchased in a ball), but you can use tomato sauce, standard toppings, grilled vegetables, whatever you would like. Just be careful not to use too much sauce (no more than 1 ladle full) or your dough will get soggy.

Slide the topped pizza back onto the grill. If you are using a gas grill, reduce the heat. If working with a charcoal grill, close the vents on the cover almost all the way. Close the lid and cook for 2-3 minutes more, or until the bottom begins to char and the cheese is bubbly. Pull off the grate with a spatula onto a cutting board or other flat surface and let rest for a couple minutes before cutting into slices.

This was our finished pizza!

Earlier this week, we caught beef tenderloins on sale for $10.99 a pound, so we snatched one up. When you butcher a whole beef tenderloin into filet mignon steaks, there are parts of the tenderloin left (the trimmings) that aren’t big enough to serve as steaks, but you don’t dare waste that wonderfully tender meat. I froze some of the trimmings for a future pot of Beef Bourguignon and with four of the smallest “steaks” I decided to make Grillades and Grits.

Grillades and grits is a southern (New Orleans mostly) tradition served usually at brunch but it can make an excellent dinner. The meat “grillades” can be anything and many times you see them made from round steak, chuck roast, pork tenderloin medallions and at times, beef tenderloin. I knew the basics for making this dish, so I drew on my Southern roots and Creole heritage (no, I’m not Creole, but my father’s family came to Birmingham from New Orleans and picked up all the cooking techniques) and created a really good version of this classic dish. It was so good, I had to run write it down, so I thought I’d share it with you.

First, I made the grits. I used 5 minute “quick cook grits” (Jim Dandy). The amount you use will depend on how many servings you want to yield. Follow the instructions on the box or bag except where it says to start with boiling water, replace the water with chicken or vegetable stock (I used vegetable stock made from “better than bouillon” stock base). To the stock, add 1/4 cup heavy cream, 1 tbsp garlic powder and 1 tbsp Italian seasoning. Once the grits are cooked, fold in 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese.

For the “grillades” you will need:

• 2 large chunks of meat per person (I used 4 extremely small filet mignons, approximately 3 oz each)
• 1/2 of a white onion, chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2# Crimini mushrooms, sliced (a.k.a. Baby Bell)
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1/4 cup liquor or wine (I was planning to use white wine but we were out and all we had on hand was Wild Turkey American Honey Liqueur, which actually worked wonderfully)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp Grey Poupon mustard
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil

In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil, then add the meat and sear on all sides to get a nice caramelization and cook to medium or medium rare (about 3 minutes per side). Remove the meat and hold in a bowl. To the pan drippings, add the onion, bell pepper and mushroom and cook until the onions and bell pepper are tender. Deglaze the pan with the liquor/wine, scraping up all the burnt bits on the bottom of the pan (that’s your sauce flavor). Add the cream, mustard, salt, pepper and garlic powder and boil until the sauce begins to thicken. Add the meat back to the pan.

To serve, mound some of your cheese grits on a plate. Top with 2 pieces of meat and then a spoonful of the sauce over the meat.

• 1 deep dish 9″ graham cracker crust (you can make your own, but a store bought one is just fine)
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 1 3oz package of peach flavored Jell-O
• 2 cups ice cubes
• 1 1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip
• 2 cups fresh peeled and chopped peaches

In a mixing bowl, empty the peach Jell-O and pour in the boiling water. Stir until Jell-O has completely dissolved, then add the ice cubes and stir until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove any unmelted ice cubes, then fold in the Cool Whip. Put mixture in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to chill and start to set up. You want it to be the consistency where you can spoon it into the crust, not pour it in.

One the Jell-O mixture has cooled and began to set, mix in the fresh peaches, fill the graham cracker crust and refrigerate the pie for at least 3 hours before serving. Slice and enjoy!

If you have a lot of peaches, you can make several pies and freeze them. To serve, remove a pie from the freezer and allow the pie to soften overnight in the refrigerator before slicing.

• 2 pounds of fresh fruit (your choice of fruits including peaches, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc) OR you can purchase a 2 pound bag of frozen fruit from the grocery store if making out of season
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 box Duncan Hines BUTTER recipe yellow cake mix
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
• Sliced Almonds or Pecans (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F. In a heavy bottom saucepan, cook the fruit and brown sugar until hot and bubbly. Pour fruit into a greased casserole dish (I use a deep dish Corningware French White lasagna casserole, about 3″-4″ deep so it won’t bubble out when baking). If you want to add nuts, sprinkle them liberally over the top of the fruit.

Open the butter cake mix and pour over the top of the fruit. Don’t mix up the mix, use the mix in its dry form straight from the box. Melt the butter in a glass measuring cup and pour over the top of the cake mix, covering as much of the surface with the butter as possible.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until bubbly and golden brown.

If you really want a rich version of this recipe, use 3 sticks of butter instead of 2. It’s delicious, but will surely clog your arteries. We’d call the 3 stick version the Paula Dean Redneck Cobbler!

These days, meatloaf is a generic term for a dish that can be made with a variety of meats (beef, turkey, pork) or even vegetarian style. One thing I’ve learned, the leaner the meat, the less flavor and the “firmer” the meatloaf with be, so if you want a really tasty meatloaf, you’ve got to deal with some fat. Buying 93/7 lean ground beef won’t produce a really good meatloaf, although it will be a lot healthier. If you want to “lean up” a meatloaf but still retain the flavor and moisture, try using 1/2 ground turkey and 1/2 ground beef. You won’t taste the turkey.. in fact, because of seasonings, when I make a true 100% turkey meatloaf at work, most of my customers have no idea they aren’t eating ground beef.

This recipe is written for a standard, delicious meatloaf but has variations as noted. They all work and they are all wonderful, so if you’ve had problems making a perfect meatloaf in the past, give this recipe a try!

• 1 pound ground chuck mixed with 1 pound ground round (or mix beef with ground turkey, or do all ground turkey if you prefer)
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup PANKO (Japanese Breadcrumbs) or 1 cup crushed saltine crackers (do not use finely ground bread crumbs from a can)
• 2 tbsp Montreal Steak seasoning (a blend found in the spice isle)

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Grease a bread loaf pan with cooking spray and add meat to the pan. If you prefer one of the glazes below (traditional or creamy mushroom) add it before baking the meatloaf, or you can bake the meatloaf and then top with caramelized onions and brown gravy if you prefer.

Bake at 400F for approximately 45 minutes. Meatloaf is done when internal temperature (read with a kitchen thermometer) reads 165F, so check it periodically. One it reaches that temp, remove from the oven. If you cook it longer, it will dry out.

Glazes:

For a traditional glaze, mix 1 cup dark brown sugar and 1/2 cup ketchup and pour over the top before baking meatloaf.

For creamy mushroom meatloaf, simply open a can of Cream of Mushroom soup and pour over the top before baking meatloaf.

Every so often my 40yo sweet tooth with kick in and I’ll start craving a decadent treat. Growing up in Alabama, it was always a treat to eat at Cobb Lane and get chocolate roulage for dessert. The whole “jelly roll” concept always appealed to me; even the Little Debbie Swiss roll was a childhood favorite.

Chocolate roulage looks hard to make; most people see this dessert and think there’s no way they can pull this off, but it’s really quite simple. The cake is basically a sponge cake. It’s baked on a “jelly roll” pan but I’ve never owned one personally. I simply use a sheet pan. The trick is to cover the baked cake with a cold, wet towel until the cake is completely cool. This keeps the cake moist and allows you to roll it up without it breaking, but I’ve eaten “broken” roulage in some of Birmingham’s finest restaurants, so if yours breaks, don’t worry about it. Some sifted powered sugar will cover any mistakes!

• 5 large eggs at room temperature, separated
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 6oz dark, semi sweet chocolate melted with 3 tbsp water
• Dark cocoa
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat the egg yolks thoroughly; add 3/4 cup of sugar to the yolks and continue to beat until thick. Blend the cooled melted chocolate with the egg yolks, then fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Butter a sheet pan or jelly roll pan. Line pan with wax or parchment paper and butter the paper. Spread cake mixture evenly on the buttered paper and bake at 325F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 300F and bake 5 minutes more. Remove from the oven, cover the cake with a cold, wet towel and let cool completely.

When ready to serve, carefully remove the towel and loosen the cake from the paper. Sift cocoa all over the cake, then turn the cake onto a fresh sheet of waxed or parchment paper. Peel off the old paper. Whip the cream with the vanilla and remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and spread liberally over the cake. Roll the cake lengthwise. Dust the top with more cocoa or with powered sugar. Slice to serve.

Cake can also be frozen once the whipped cream is added and the cake is rolled up. This will make the cake easier to slice with a more “set” filling.

I grew up eating chicken salad. Not “Fancy” chicken salad, just good old chicken salad made with chicken, celery, egg, dill pickles and mayo and to this day, that’s the way I prefer mine. Over the years, I’ve made different versions of chicken salad for my customers and all have been a hit, but nothing like the response I get from this version of fruity chicken salad that I began calling “Fancy” chicken salad on our menu at work.

I owned a catering business in Birmingham and this was a most requested recipe. At the Birmingham News, I’d make Fancy Chicken Salad, usually at least 20 pounds, and be sold out within 45 minutes of opening our doors for lunch. Customers would order it by the pound to pick up on Fridays and take home for the weekend. They liked the recipe so much, it was published in The News’ food section once. After leaving The News, I’ve worked in several corporate accounts (that’s what I am, a corporate chef) and at every account, customers line up for this recipe. I can never make enough; it sells out long before lunch ends. Every time my company moves me to a new account, the customers at the old one email talking about “missing my chicken salad”. So I’m posted this recipe for all my faithful customers, friends and readers. Like every recipe I prepare at work, this one is easy. Once you’ve chopped up the ingredients, that’s it. There is no “special ingredient”, nothing out of the ordinary that I do. The only 4 things I can say that make my recipe different from other’s chicken salad are these:

1. Never put the chicken in a food processor, instead, tear it with your hands. We aren’t making cat food so it should resemble something from a can, which leads to the second note.
2. Don’t use canned chicken. Take the time to boil some chicken. If you take a shortcut, it won’t taste the same. As for the chicken I use, any cut. But at work, because of what’s in inventory, it’s 95% of the time boneless, skinless breasts.
3. If you’ve had my chicken salad before and you want yours to taste the same, use KRAFT mayonnaise. I’m not knocking Duke’s, or whatever you like, and if you’ve never had mine personally, use whatever you like, but there is a difference in mayo. I’ve made mine at work and home with KRAFT because I grew up eating KRAFT. The few times I’ve made it with Hellman’s, in my opinion, it wasn’t as good, and I don’t normally buy Duke’s because I can’t afford to pay $5 for a jar of mayo when I can get KRAFT for $2.50
4. NEVER under any circumstances, load the chicken salad with mayo. You want just enough to hold it together. How much is that? You’ll just have to see. I don’t put a measurement because it’s hard to say. It depends on the chicken, the size pieces your chicken is, the size you cut up the ingredients, etc. You can always add more mayo but you can’t take it out. That’s a good rule of thumb for any cooking!

So now that I’ve told you my “secrets”, here’s the recipe for Fancy Chicken Salad:

• Cooked, pulled apart chicken (about 4 cups total)
• 1 Red Delicious Apple & 1 Granny Smith Apple
• 4 ribs celery, chopped (I prefer to use the tops also, so don’t discard those. They have the celery flavor and the leaves add color to the chicken salad)
• 1 1/2 cups dried, sweetened cranberries (I usually just use a whole bag from Oceanspray and don’t even measure)
• Mayo (amount needed will depend, but will be at least 1 cup)
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup toasted pecans or candied walnuts (optional)

That’s it! Cook chicken and shred/dice in a large bowl. Cut apples into a small dice (leaving skins on) and add to the chicken. Add the celery and dried cranberries. Mix in mayo, just enough to hold all ingredients together. You don’t want it “swimming in mayo”. Toss in some nuts if you like (I do sometimes, don’t others. Depends on my mood and who I’m serving. A lot of people have nut allergies). Season with salt and pepper (this too is up to you and your taste buds.. add some, taste it, add more if you think it needs it).

It’s great to eat on top of a green salad, made into a sandwich or wrap, or splurge and enjoy it on a buttery croissant!

I just love a simple dessert… one you can whip up on a moments notice, one that requires a minimal of ingredients, and even better, one that doesn’t require turning on the oven! This pie is extremely easy yet wonderfully rich. It’s great served with a cup of strong brewed coffee and it’s the perfectly rich chocolaty dessert for a dinner party. It can be made “fat full”, light or fat free depending on the ingredients you buy and the taste never wavers.

• 3 oz Ghirardelli semi-sweet baker’s chocolate
• 1 tbsp half & half (or milk will work just fine)
• 1 8oz cream cheese, softened (use regular, light or fat free, your choice)
• 1 16oz container of Cool Whip (regular, light or fat free)
• 1 graham cracker crust (regular or chocolate)

In a glass measuring cup, break up the chocolate pieces and add the milk/cream. Microwave on high for 30-45 seconds, or until chocolate melts. Stir to combine.

In a large bowl, put the softened cream cheese, add the melted chocolate and blend until smooth and well combined with electric mixer. Fold in the Cool Whip and combine well. Pour into graham cracker crust, top with chocolate shavings or pieces, and put in the freezer for at least 1 hour.

To serve, let soften just enough to slice. Serve with fresh brewed coffee for a perfect, chocolaty, rich dessert.