Beignets Just Like The Ones at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans
by Larry Cox on Jan. 05, 2012, under UncategorizedBasic to Brilliant, Y’all: 150 Refined Southern Recipes and Ways to Dress Them Up for Company by Virginia Willis (Ten Speed Press, $35)
This new cookbook is built on the premise that a basic recipe accompanied by a technique or two, a little garnish, and maybe an additional step can transform a wonderful dish into a culinary show stopper.
Virginia Willis, author of “Bon Appetit, Y’all,” is based in Atlanta, and even though she is a classically trained French chef most of the recipes in her new collection are rooted in honest, straight-forward traditional Southern dishes. She raises the bar when she takes a comfort food like macaroni salad and adds jumbo lump crabmeat. Her Peach Dijon-Crusted Pork Tenderloin goes from an elegant continental entrée to a Southern delight when she cradles it between Chive Cornmeal Griddle Cakes and serves it followed by a savory dessert like Sweet Biscuits with Stewed Blackberries. Willis invites cooks to take her basic recipes and then go as far as they wish to go, from simple to stunning.
This cookbook is divided into 12 chapters: Fundamental Recipes; Starters and Nibbles; Salads and Slaws; Eggs and Dairy; Fish and Shellfish; Gospel Birds and Game Birds; Beef, Pork, and Lamb; Rice, Grits, and Potatoes; Vegetables; Soups and Stews; Daily Bread; and Desserts. Some of the standout recipes are her Bittersweet Chocolate Bread Pudding, an incredible Wild Mushroom Soup, a Spicy Carolina Pork Shoulder, and Okra Cornbread Cakes. For her Black Pepper Cheese Shortbread, Willis gives it more zip by adding a pecan garnish. The Sweet Potato Grits is a brilliant soufflelike spoonbread that combines two ultimate Southern sides.
Willis has compiled some of the best Southern recipes I’ve found. Some, like the Savory Monkey Bread, I remember from my Grandmother’s kitchen. Others like the Crispy Roasted Duck with Peach Barbeque Sauce are entirely new and innovative.
I tested two recipes from this cookbook, French Beignets which I recall with affection from the years I spent in New Orleans. Beignets, served either with powdered sugar as done at Café Du Monde in the French Market in the Quarter, or drizzled with Arizona honey is a gift from the culinary gods. This recipe also required orange zest which I gleaned from a tree on a patio. My second dish was a rather involved Stewed Chicken in Peanut Gravy.
This is an incredible cookbook that proves that Southern cooking can be much, much more than grits and fatback.
FRENCH BEIGNETS
Makes about 32
Ingredients:
1 cup water
½ cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon plus 1 cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Finely grated zest of two oranges
1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Vegetable shortening, for frying
Confectioners’ sugar, for serving
Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Set aside. In a small saucepan, combine the water, butter, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, salt, and half the zest and bring the mixture to a rapid boil. Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously. Cook the paste over low heat, beating briskly, until the ingredients are thoroughly combined and the dough leaves the sides of the pan and forms a ball. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well with each addition. By hand or with an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the paste until it is smooth and glossy. Stir in the vanilla.
Fill a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, deep fryer, or Dutch oven no more than one-third full of shortening. Heat to 370F. Using an ice cream scoop, carefully drop the dough by teaspoons into the shortening. Fry the beignets in batches, turning them once or twice until golden brown, 3 to five minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove to the prepared baking sheet to drain.
Combine the remaining orange zest and 1 cup of granulated sugar in a bowl. Wgile the puffs are still warm, roll them in sugar and orange zest mixture until evenly coated. Just before serving, sprinkle the beignets with the confectioners’ sugar. Serve immediately.
