That’s fantastic to hear how much everyone enjoyed the cornmeal soufflé! It sounds like a real hit for any gathering. I bet it paired perfectly with the farm-fresh ingredients you likely used. For those looking to try it at home, the recipe’s simplicity makes it a go-to for any occasion. Plus, with Gluten free articles increasingly highlighting the benefits of cornmeal in baking, it’s not just delicious but also a great choice for those with dietary restrictions. Whether served warm with a dollop of fresh butter or as a savory side to a hearty meal, this soufflé is sure to become a staple in your kitchen rotation.

Spoonbread! It’s a gluten free soufflé!

One of the most frustrating parts of being wheat-free is the amount of terrible things I end up digesting in my quest to satisfy that bread craving. The gluten-free all-purpose flours on the market are expensive and mostly composed of cornstarch which is not healthy and they don’t make me feel any better than the wheat counterpart and I’m sorry but they never taste anything like wheat flour baked goods.

Pie Ranch Corm Meal grown and milled on-site

However, for this recipe I used organic stone ground cornmeal (milled onsite) from Pie Ranch and the flavor and texture was awesome and I didn’t feel like napping directly afterwards which is normally how I get after eating complex carbs.  The high amount of eggs (protein) in this spoonbread balances out any crazy glycemic index spikes for me.

Chef Victoria testing Spoonbread recipe at Pie Ranch

I have some words of advice on preparation especially if you are serving this for a party: it will fall quickly just like a soufflé and there’s no Mornay sauce in this recipe to truly give it a base (like there would be in a traditional French soufflé). But, it wouldn’t be a spoonbread anyway if it didn’t collapse. I’ve added a little cream of tartar and baking powder to help with the rise of the heavy stone ground cornmeal but it will only extend the post-oven puff a little bit longer than normal and both can be left out if desired. Make sure dinner is ready to go or even plated so you can rush this to the table when guests are seated. And make extra. Your guests will have seconds and thirds – it’s just so darned light! I’ve octupled this recipe before so feel free to expand it as necessary.

I think spoonbread is great with just about anything, but being a Southern dish it seems to go best with regional fare (beans & greens, pulled pork, etc.). You could serve this with steak too as a substitute for Yorkshire pudding. And I certainly wouldn’t turn it down for breakfast with some nice glazed ham on the side and a drizzle of maple syrup. Heck Easter’s just around the corner – why not include spoonbread in your Easter feast? Whether you’ve got crown pork roast, ham, or lamb on the menu this will be a great light side dish or as part of an elegant brunch!

Spoonbread Soufflé

One more note: the middle will be pudding-like. That’s the way it’s supposed to be so don’t fuss over that. Leftovers can be reheated and drizzled with syrup and butter in the morning….but again, unless you make extra there won’t be any…don’t say I didn’t warn ya….

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Roast Pork Loin with Prickly Pear Guajillo Glaze

I slathered this pork roast with my go-to rub made up of toasted & ground: cumin, coriander, guajillo chili, and pasilla chili. Mid way through the cooking process I glazed it with a prickly pear gastrique (fruit purée reduced with vinegar & sugar) infused with fresh bay leaf. I strongly prefer fresh bay leaf if you happen to have a tree somewhere close – it is much stronger and more herbaceous than the dry version. To kick it up a notch I threw in a Thai red chili. But of course, that could be left out.

Prickly pear gastrique infused with fresh bay leaf

I like to provide options to my guests and on the side I served up my favorite Guajillo BBQ sauce along with pan jus which was oh so dunkable from the caramelized glaze and spices melding with the natural juices. This pork was raised on Pie Ranch and had wonderful flavor and texture from the incredible “slop” it was fed consisting of homegrown organic vegetables and extra cow & goat milk. I think some acorns were thrown into the mix too which pigs absolutely adore.

Spice rubbed pork loin roast

Pie Ranch Pork Loin

Just a reminder: prickly pears are actually VERY prickly (I found out the hard way).

They have tiny little hairs that will stick into your skin and they do not come out easily. Mostly because they are invisible so you can’t see them find them. Make sure to handle this fruit with gloves or a kitchen towel!

Prickly Pear syrup

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Shaved Carrot & Nopales Salad with Farm Cheese and Agave-Lime Vinaigrette

The easiest way to prepare nopales into nopalitos (diced edible cactus) is to buy it freshly prepped and packaged. No joke. But if you’ve got cactus growing on your farm or in your backyard here’s what to do, go to: Pati’s Mexican Table and read her method which I think works the best (and I love her blog besides). She also talks about how to choose the cactus paddle. I could paraphrase Chef Pati, but in her own words:

“Nopales are persnickety, their thorns are almost invisible, but a good clue is that wherever there is a bump there may be a thorn. Then, using a vegetable peeler or small sharp knife, pretty much as if they were asparagus, peel away the bumps and thorns, you may want to lean the nopales against a chopping board, and then rinse again. No need to peel off all of the outer dark green skin, in fact, try to keep as much as you can.”

Nopales when cooked are sticky. They secrete this clear goo that can be hard to get rid of and annoying when used unbaked in a salad (as opposed to a quiche where the goo will cook into the mixture). I blanch nopalitos first in boiling salted water, shock in ice water, and then sauté with a little cooking oil in a smoking hot pan briefly until the mucous evaporates. I haven’t tried grilling them yet, although I hear that works well, and the smokiness from the grill would be awesome with this. Chef Pati prefers to sauté nopalitos like mushrooms until the liquid evaporates and she skips the blanching.

Heirloom carrots from Pie Ranch

Heirloom carrots are polar opposite of course to noplalitos, and sweet as candy. They are beautiful roasted, but this Spring they are so sugary eaten raw and their colors are popping in crimson, orange, yellow, and white; so why not let them be as they are….

You don’t need a mandolin always to get that cool shaved vegetable look. I use a non-serrated vegetable peeler for carrots and put my shaved slices directly in ice water which makes them curl up. They can keep this way for up to 2 days. Holding the carrot flat on a cutting board, use the peeler to shave the carrot from top to bottom with a little more pressure than normal. Smaller carrots will yield better bite-sized curls that aren’t too big and floppy. And I never pre-peel the crimson carrots before shaving them down because all that outer deep red color is lost.

Shaved Heirloom Carrots

Making farm cheese from fresh milk straight from the cow is much easier than one would think. But I’m going save that for another post because you’re probably bored by my rambling and it’s a lengthy process even though it’s not too difficult. Queso or goat cheese would be a great sub if farm cheese is not something you whip up à la minute at home. I’m blessed to work in a rural setting amongst several organic dairy farms and everyone’s got their own farm cheese technique, so I mostly take what I can, where I can! Nopales and soft cheese are a great pairing. If you like pickles and cheese together, you’ll love cactus and cheese together.

Perhaps you’re thinking this is a simple salad that I’ve managed to totally over explain and over engineer. And you wouldn’t be wrong. But sometimes for me it’s the little ingredients, on their own, that get me so excited as opposed to the conglomeration. Thankfully I didn’t go on about the lettuce, and you know I really wanted to! Next time…

For more Nopales Recipes around the Blogosphere:

Cleaning and Cooking Cactus Paddles by Pati’s Mexican Kitchen

How To Cook Cactus Paddles by Mexico in My Kitchen

Cactus and Corn Salsa by Simply Recipes

Huevos con Nopales y Cilantro (Eggs with nopales and cilantro) by Hungry Sofia

Prickly Pear Margaritas by Amy Glaze’s Pommes d’Amour – yes that’s me!!!

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Green Garlic and Nettle Vichyssoise, hard cooked egg, bacon, mustard flowers

Traditional Vichyssoise is a magical combination of puréed leeks and potato served cold. Notice that I wrote ‘potato’ in the singular. Many recipes call for multiple potatoes which tends to lend itself to a soup of library paste. If you were a paste licker in school then go ahead and add them back in. I was a glue sniffer so I never really developed that particular affinity.

Older than the rivalry between paste eaters and glue sniffers is the historical food fight over the origin of Vichyssoise soup. Is it French or American? I’d like to say it’s a fusion, but it was made famous on American soil so I could be persuaded to cross the picket line. The soup is said to have been created by Louis Diat, the chef at the Ritz-Carlton in New York City for most of the first half of the 20th century.

In the New Yorker magazine (1950) Diat said:

“In the summer of 1917, when I had been at the Ritz seven years, I reflected upon the potato-and-leek soup of my childhood, which my mother and grandmother used to make. I recalled how, during the summer, my older brother and I used to cool it off by pouring in cold milk, and how delicious it was. I resolved to make something of the sort for the patrons of the Ritz.”

Other food fighters/historians say that the French chef Jules Gouffé was first to create the recipe, publishing a version in Royal Cookery (1869) and that Chef Diat must have changed it slightly by serving it cold and therefore calling it his own. OH, WHO CARES?!! It’s a basic combination that’s delicious!

Tender nettle tops and green garlic

I love the classic combo of potato & leek and adding green garlic to the mix isn’t really a stretch, nor are nettles since they just add to the earthiness of the purée and they give it some color. And leek & potato soup needs some color. However, I serve the soup warm because I think the flavors taste better that way. Sorry Chef Diat, but I’m not a die hard fan of cold Vichyssoise.

Green garlic has a short growing period and can be found in farmer’s markets NOW. It often looks likes spring onions when packaged but the white parts are streaked with a little red.  This green garlic is from Pie Ranch along the beautiful coastal highway 1.

The nettles were foraged for me by farmer Debbie at Pie Ranch and she somehow managed to collect around 4 gynormous garbage bags full so I could make a soup for 65 people. Unless you’ve attempted to harvest nettles, you have no idea how much heart went into this. They sting like crazy! People, there are poems written about how badly nettles sting! Shakespeare even mentions it (Henry IV 2.3.9-11)! Don’t go harvesting without gloves. Long sleeve shirts and full pants are a must…

Green Garlic and Nettle Soup

Sometimes you can get nettles in farmer’s markets but if you live anywhere that’s rural you have probably mistaken them for weeds in your back yard or seen them growing in forests or along roads. Read my previous blog entry about how to handle nettles). Stinging aside, they are worth the effort because they are packed with antioxidants and many herbalists and lots of Irish lore say they cure just about everything that ails. I like them for their color, more than flavor  – which is about as exciting as spinach – and also their health benefits.

This soup was inspired by my Spring commute along the coastal highway, maybe I should rename is Pescaderossoise!

On one side of my drive is the Pacific coast with the waves crashing against the cliffs and on the other are mountains and fields of green that are completely covered in flourescent yellow from the mustard cover crops. This picture was taken early in the morning and you can see the marine layer still floating over the mountains. Unfortunately the snap doesn’t do the view justice. I had to pull over to get the picture anyways, it was just too pretty to let go…

Pescadero mustard cover crops

More on nettles and green garlic:

Woodfire Roasted Artichokes with Wheatberries and Nettle Pesto

Nettle & Green Garlic Purée with Poached Egg

Nettle Pesto Pizza with Delicata Squash and Bacon

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Pie Ranch crudité platter of gorgeous Spring Veggies and confit onion dip.

I like to do all sorts of dips depending on what’s available on the farm. Sometimes I make a spicy white bean dip or a spinach dip, but this time I was motivated by the last issue of Bon Apetít which highlighted an onion dip. As a kid I used to love that stuff. Remember that onion flavor packet you would add to sour cream instantly transforming it into an irresistable concoction? I remember ripping through whole bags of ruffled potato chips simply so I could shovel more onion dip into my mouth.

Crudité platter with Pie Ranch gorgeous produce

I made this onion dip in a similar fashion to making French onion soup: I sliced a 5 pound bag of  sweet yellow onions thin on a mandolin. Then I tossed the onions with olive oil to coat, fresh thyme, a tablespoon of sugar and a big 3-finger chef pinch of sea salt and let them cook down slowly (low heat) in a pot on the stove without stirring. When the bottom layer was nice and caramelized I gave them a stir and continued cooking until all was brown. Deglazing the pan with white wine, letting it cook off, and deglazing with more white wine is a must after the onion is caramelized. I used almost 1/2 bottle of dry white wine after deglazing 4 times and letting it reduce after each addition.

When the onion is confited, let it cool and then chop it up (mince) by hand. I’m a sour cream fan and if I wasn’t conscious of my healthy guests I would have only used sour cream for this. Instead I split the mixture with 4 cups of greek yogurt and 4 cups of sour cream. So yes, this makes a lot of dip! It will feed up to 55 people!

If I haven’t convinced you with my crudité platter that raw veg as an appetizer is the way to go. Check out some of these beautiful veg platters for inspiration from the Huffington Post!

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Cactus Pear Margarita with rose & lime…sublime

Yes, they are aptly named. Can you believe it? Well I couldn’t. I was too good for gloves. Too good for tongs. Too good for a regular ol’ kitchen towel. I picked ’em right off the ol’ cactus bare handed. Boy, was I stupid…

I didn’t immediately feel the teeny tiny invisible prickles so I continued to prep the prickly pears cutting away the thick outer skin and roughly chopping the gorgeous magenta flesh.

It was only when I washed my knife and the hot water hit my hands, that I felt the sting. Not just a sting, but a burn that ran through my fingers, through my palms, through my wrists. So let this be a lesson to you: wear gloves when you hold these bright pink flirtatiously sweet CACTUS pears! They are the Scorpians of dessert fruit.

I’m a little dismayed at the recipes I’ve read online for prickly pear syrup because most call for the fruit to be pulverized first in a blender. But this isn’t necessary. I think it’s better to cook the fruit down with some sugar then press the soft flesh through a chinois to catch all the crunchy little black seeds.

As for interesting ways to use this syrup there are many: as a garnish to guaijillo BBQ pulled pork tacos, on roasted chicken as a glaze, and also as a sweet elixir to mix with tequila in a margarita or rhum in a mojito. Check out  the blog: Hunter Angler Gardener Cook for a tasty prickly pear glazed pheasant recipe.

Prickly pears have a watermelon-like flavor that begs to be mixed with other fruits. Raspberry and Prickly pear is a great combo. I also like adding flower water essences (like rose & orange blossom) and spices such as: cumin, coriander, guajillo, pasilla, cayenne, and smoked paprika.

It is watery tasting when eaten raw in the same way a watermelon is, but when reduced into a syrup it is seriously sweet with little acidity. Keep this in mind. Lime is a natural balance for the prickly pear. Or if you are using this syrup in a savory dish as a meat glaze then add a little vinegar (sherry, red wine, or white wine) to balance the sugar and make it more of a gastrique.

Perhaps this isn’t the first fruit that comes to mind for Spring but I’m having a lot of fun using this pretty cactus pear on Pie Ranch right now. Stay tuned for a nopales (cactus) Quiche and a prickly pear glazed pork roast….

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Call it what you will: pie crust, shortcrust, or pâte brisée – it’s one of my favorite things on this planet and I will always always choose a well made slice o’ pie over a light and fluffy piece o’ cake. I can even forgive a terrible filling if the crust is flaky and fork tender – that’s how much I love pie crust.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I use the same basic French pâte brisée pastry recipe for everything whether it’s pie, quiche,  tart or quoi. It’s basically a half-fat to half-flour ratio.

I know lard pies are trendy in SF right now and I’m probably going to have my handlebar mustache shaved off and my ‘fixe’ bicycle stolen for saying this, but I don’t like the aftertaste of lard or Crisco because it sticks to my tongue and I feel like I need a knife to scrape it off. Who wants to comb their tongue after a great dessert? I like the flakiness and texture animal fats and hydrogenated fats can provide, but still, I’m all butter baby – all the way.

In a nutshell (or tart shell – ba, dum, dum) pâte brisée is an un-leavened dough that does not rise significantly. The flakiness comes from the process of rubbing fat into flour until it resembles cornmeal – and I always prefer to do this by hand when possible– then adding a little bit of water to bring it all together. The dough is kneaded a few times (known as frissage in French) and then allowed to rest in the fridge so the gluten strands relax and quit lengthening before rolling out and baking to golden deliciousness.

In France, for the recipe pâte sucrée which is a sweetened shortcrust, you add an egg too. I have yet to find the need for a sweetened pie crust – I prefer the filling to be the sweet part – but there are variations to this basic recipe.

And speaking of variations: I cook on farms and I use a hard red wheat flour milled onsite that is high in protein and VERY low in gluten which is great for pastry (and not so great for bread). It can be tricky to work with because it absorbs liquid at a slower rate and it’s not as finely ground as store bought All-Purpose. But, I strongly prefer the flavor and the rustic crumbly appearance and texture.

If you are using flour like this then use the recipe below. If you are using store bought All-Purpose flour (and my favorite is Guisto’s Organic – they also have amazing pizza ’00’ flour) then up the flour amount by 1/4 cup.

And, if you happen to be driving along the gorgeous coastal highway 1 and you find yourself in Pescadero. Stop by Pie Ranch’s farm stall in their beautiful old barn and pick up a slice of pie made from this amazing flour. You can buy flour too and just picked produce and farm fresh eggs!

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