Faith Hill's Cornbread

Erma, I’ll have to pass on those Shania Twain recipes to Mel. He does make a mean apple pie. No, that’s not right. His wife bakes a mean apple pie. Still not right. His wife bakes lots of mean apple pies. Like a dozen a day. Every day. All year long. Year after year.

And she must like Shania Twain. Or at least Mel plays her music a lot at the Diner.

Another Mel’s Country Music Special at the Diner is Faith Hill’s Easy Country Cornbread.
I just noticed that Mel’s favorite recipes and singers are all good looking female singers. Wonder if there is some connection here?

Anyway, this is Southern Cornbread as you taught me to like it Erma. I know that you throw up your hands in horror at the thought of The Sacred Cornbread being served like a soft, sweet cake. I don’t know if Faith Hill is a “Mississippi Girl’ or not, but she must be from way below the Mason-Dixon Line as her Cornbread is definitely Southern in taste and presentation. Faith must have had a grandmother like yours with a heavy, black cast iron skillet.

Mel often brings this Cornbread to the table straight out of the oven. You know what he looks like in his white apron. Imagine that big guy carrying a heavy black skillet with potholders, and then flipping out a giant cake of yellow cornbread on your plate. It just cries for a slathering of butter.

“There You’ll Be” with a piece of buttered cornbread in “Sunshine and Summertime.” Or Wintertime. Or Falltime.

Faith Hill’s Easy Country Cornbread:

3 tablespoons Crisco Butter Shortening
1 ½ cups Martha White Yellow Cornmeal Mix
1 egg
1 ½ cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place the Crisco in an iron skillet and melt the shortening in the oven.

In a mixing bowl, mix egg, cornmeal mix and buttermilk. Pour the melted shortening into the mixture, leaving a small amount in the skittle so the bread will not stick. Stir in the shortening. Sprinkle a bit of dry cornmeal mix in the skillet and then pour in the cornbread mixture. Bake at 500 degrees until golden brown.

EAT AT ONCE!!

Country Music's Carolyn Dawn Johnson's Favorite Recipe

Shades of that old saying,” You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy.” Only with you, Erma, it goes: “You can take the girl out of the South, but you can’t take the South out of the girl.” You went to Las Vegas and ending up eating Black-eyed Peas at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill! So, why did you go to Las Vegas in the first place?

Why don’t you just mosey up to Dutch’s Corners and eat at Mel’s Diner. It has all the Country Music that is fit to play–and some that is not.

Mel collects recipes from Country Music stars and often uses them at the Diner. This is one he brought to a community pot luck supper a while back. Mel plays Carolyn Dawn Johnson’s “Got A Good Day” all the time down at the Diner, and he says that she should change the title of the song to “Got A Good Recipe” for her Carolyn Dawn’s Chicken Asparagus Casserole.

Carolyn Dawn’s Chicken Asparagus Casserole:

1 ½ pounds fresh asparagus spears, cut in half
Cooking Oil
4 boneless, chicken breast halves–rather thin, not the monster ones
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 can light cream of chicken soup
½ cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon curry powder
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Lightly oil a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.

In a large sauce pan, boil the asparagus for 2 to 3 minutes. Drain well in a colander, and place in the casserole. Arrange the chicken breasts over the asparagus.

In a mixing bowl, mix the soup, mayonnaise, lemon juice and curry powder. Pour over the chicken. Place the lid on the casserole and bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle on the cheddar cheese. Return to oven for a few minutes until the cheese is melted.

Serves 6.

Toby Keith's Black-Eyed Peas

No, Max, I am not a Good Ole Girl heading off to watch NASCAR races, but I do like some Country Music. I have to. The only radio stations that we can seem to pick up in the shop are country. So, yes dear, I know who Martina McBride is–and her Favorite Smoked Pork Chops sound divine.

Want a real Country meal? Serve those chops with Toby Keith’s Black-Eyed Peas. As you know black-eyed peas are a Southern tradition on New Years. Supposed to bring you good luck for the next year. So, of course, when we were in Las Vegas two years ago on New Year’s Eve, we had to go to The I Love This Bar & Grill to have REAL Southern comfort food. That was a pretty good year for the company, so maybe there is something in that superstition.

Toby Keith’s Black-Eyed Peas as Prepared at the I Love This Bar & Grill:

1 10 ounce can black-eyed peas
4 strips bacon
2 tablespoons bacon fat
¾ cup of diced red onion
2 tablespoons Cowboy Mix (below)

Dice the bacon and place in a Dutch Oven type heavy pot. Along with the bacon fat and the red onion. Fry until the onion begins to change color. Add the can of peas and the Cowboy Mix. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes at a hard boil.

Makes 2 to 4 servings

Cowboy Mix:

4 tablespoons kosher salt
¼ tablespoon pasilla powder
2 tablespoons granulated garlic
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons black pepper

Mix and use where ever a Tex-Mex flavor is wanted. Store in a small, tightly covered container. This will “fire up” any thing it touches.

Martina McBride's Smoked Pork Chops

Erma Elizabeth McCall, I can’t believe that you are promoting a NASCAR recipe!! What is the world coming to?

You, who thinks the only proper racing involves four footed horses at Keeneland and Churchill Downs now has become a NASCAR fan? I just knew that somewhere under all that prim and proper Southern Lady facade, there lurked a hidden Good Ole Boy side of you. Next thing I know, you’ll be driving down to Talladega or Daytona and trading recipes out in the infield!! Dear, early senility may be taking over your por’ little brain.

So, just to keep up with your Down Home Country/NASCAR side, I’m sending you some Country Music star’s recipes.

Mel, from Mel’s Diner fame, right here in downtown Dutch Corners, has been featuring a pork chop recipe he says came straight from some big restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee. Mel loves Country Music (that’s all he plays at the Diner), and he especially loves Martina McBride. “Wild Angels” seems to play non-stop during dinner.

Any how, Mel went down to Nashville and ate at this place that claimed these Smoked Pork Chops were Martina’s favorite dish. Mel, naturally, conned the cook into sharing the recipe and it has been a staple at the Diner ever since.

With all of Iowa’s pork, any different recipe for the faithful pork chop is a welcomed friend. These have become something of a Saturday night Special at Mel’s, and he must make up a hundred or so each week.

P.S. You can reuse the marinade. With that whole vanilla bean, this aint a cheap brine. Just bring it to a boil after you remove the chops and store it in the fridge and it is ready for the next batch of Martina McBride’s Favorite Smoked Pork Chops from Cabana in Nashville, or from Mel’s Diner in beautiful downtown Dutch Corners.

Martina McBride’s Favorite Smoked Pork Chops from Cabana in Nashville:

6 large center-cut pork chops–make that HUGE thick chops

Marinade:

1 quart of water
¼ cup sorghum
¼ cup salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar
10 whole black peppercorns
2 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped out

Bring all the Marinade ingredients to a boil in a large saucepan. Simmer for several minutes and then cool to room temperature. Place chops and marinade in a large, covered casserole, and place in the refrigerator for one to two days.

Pat dry the chops. In a home smoker or good closed barbeque grill, smoke the chops at 160 degrees with fruit flavored wood chips until the chops reach at least 150 degrees. Use a thermometer to test.

Serves 6.