Breakfast

What a Dream…

A Dream Come True.

I have an announcement, something that I have been holding in and protecting for some time now. It started with a dream then it moved over to a wish and then it turned into something real, something I have been able to shape, contour and cultivate for months now. Yesterday morning November 12,2018 it all changed for me, that wish connected me ever so slightly to chef’s and cooks I have looked up to and learned from for years.

Julia Child the Master of French Cooking, Edna Lewis and her soul feeding food, Ina Garten and her flawless simply elegant meals, Ree Drummond and her lifestyle nourishment. Samin Nosrat and her explosion of the four food flavors. Gordon Ramsay and his Military perfection in the kitchen, Rachael Ray and her ease of preparation, Martha Stewart and her determination of home cooking perfection. Bernard Clayton and his layered pastry, Alice Waters and her dedicated seasonal movement, Americas Test Kitchen and their persistence to find the perfect recipe, Rick Bayless and his flavorful pallet of spice. Ruth Reichel and her passion with food, Jack Gilmore and his dedication to the Texas farmer, Steven Raichlen and his ability to tame smoke and fire. All the above names and countless others have one thing in common they are cookbook authors and as of yesterday I joined that list too.  I am a published cook book author!

I give you, The Campground Gourmet, Simple, Delicious Recipes for Dining in the Great Outdoors. Available now on Amazon.

 

 

I can not begin to tell you the amount of work that went into this project however, I can tell you about all the amazing and dedicated individuals that have helped me put all the pieces together. Stephanie and Jeremy Puglisi creators of RV Family Travel Atlas, they are my editors, they have spend countless hours editing, creating and guiding me along this adventure. I am truly grateful to the both of you and your belief in me, this cookbook and our friendship, thank you so much.

Steven Dunbar, my love and champion. You have always, always encouraged me to take adventures and just go for it. I can not think of a single time in our 12 years of marriage (13 on Friday 11/16) where you have asked me not to do something, you have never said no. But, I’m certain when I am in the thick of it you wish you had. I love you husband, thank you so much for all your help, encouragement and the strongest shoulder I could ever rest my head on when I was too tired to go any further. Oh, and for cleaning up when that raccoon destroyed my photo set on the patio, you are a saint.

To my children, you were my first true recipe taste testers, I made all your baby food when you could eat solids. I found out by trial and error what all your favorite cookies, meals, smells and tastes are. I have watched all three of you grow up and develop new tastes and favorite food memories. I love when you ask me to make your favorite meals, even if it is a box a macaroni (Paige) or a beurre blanc sauce (Andrew) or a perfect pan seared steak with a fried egg (Sean).

My friends and family who have been in the loop and truly kept my project safe and protected until yesterday when it was out there for everyone to see. Your encouragement, help and cyber cocktail time truly made this experience a magical gift. You helped me choose recipes, look at images and you also told me that when I made it big I owed all of you an Airstream or one heck of a vacation…I love each one of you and I appreciate your loyalty and friendship more than you could ever know.

I have always felt at home or in my comfort place at a campground, sitting in front the fire watching the golden coals smolder and send tiny shooting stars into the sky. The fire at a campground not only warms you up at the end of a long day of hiking or swimming in a lake, it feeds you. You can place a piece of cast iron over the coals and slip a fresh caught trout in that pan with onions, herbs some olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper and you have one of the best over the fire flavor meals anyone can create. It’s the fire, smoke and quiet, the total concentration of keeping the temperature there in just the right zone. It’s the laughter while watching a marshmallow swell with the heat of the fire only to spontaneously catch on fire and smolder away. It’s that crisp morning air and a rich hot cup of coffee in your favorite camp mug- it’s the great outdoors. There is so much my cookbook is about, the recipes are perfect for at home, at a park, sharing with your family at a celebration or sitting in Jackson, Wyoming under the peaks of the Grand Teton and all her beauty.

I’m Kate Dunbar, The Campground Gourmet, I tell stories through food and help individuals create culinary adventures with my recipes.

Kate's Curious Kitchen

Cinnamon Pop Overs

picture of cinnamon popovers
Light and crispy brown butter cinnamon popovers.

 

Who doesn’t love a good popover?  That crisp and crunchy outer shell and that soft hollow creamy center. Growing up at Christmas our meal would not be complete with out a prime rib roast and Yorkshire pudding popovers.

Recently I was looking over my enormous stack of holiday magazines trying to see what recipe needed a bit of a change, a new look and possible twist to the traditional recipe. My answer was on the page of Donna Hay’s magazine. A beautiful and crisp golden popover standing a mile high in its well used pan.

Sitting there looking at that image sipping my coffee and eating my favorite cinnamon and sugar donut that my loving husband went and bought for me that morning, the idea came like a lightening bold! Sweet cinnamon popovers, there is my twist.

Not only is this recipe easy to make, it tastes so good! The brown butter and cinnamon are so comforting,  I hope you enjoy this recipe it is very simple to make and can be done in about 40 minutes, happy baking.

Brown Butter & Cinnamon Popovers

Batter

1 cup whole milk

½ cup half and half

2 whole eggs

2 Tablespoons brown butter, cooled

1 ¼ cup all purpose flour

pinch of Kosher salt

canola oil

Sugar Coating

¼ cup browned butter, warm

½ cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

Tools; blender, immersion blender or whisk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, place your muffin pan in the oven at this time to heat thoroughly.

Add the milk, eggs and cooled brown butter together and blend on medium speed for 30 seconds. If using a whisk mix for 1 minute. Now add the flour, cinnamon and salt. Blend for 1 minute on medium high speed or mix by hand for 3 minutes.

When your oven has come to temperature, CAREFULLY remove the hot muffin pan and add ½ Tablespoon of canola oil to each muffin well. If you have a pastry brush, CAREFULLY brush the sides of the muffin well with the oil. Now quickly mix the batter again with your whisk or blender for just a few seconds. CAREFULLY pour batter into the hot muffin pan, only filling each well ½ way full. Place the muffing pan back in the oven and set your timer for 15 minutes. DO NOT OPEN YOUR OVEN DOOR DURING THIS COOKING TIME! After 15 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and set your timer for 12 minutes. Once the popovers are a rich golden brown, they are finished. Remove the pan and turn out the popovers onto a cooling rack, you may have to use a knife to release them from the pan, now pierce the bottom of the popover to release the steam and set on a cooling rack.

After the popovers have cooled to where you can handle them, brush the tops with the brown and press into the cinnamon sugar.

If you would like a filling I have included my Masala Chai Applesauce recipe. Please enjoy them immediately.

Chai Spiced Apple Sauce

8 assorted apples (granny smith, honey crisp and pacific rose are my favorite)

1 cup spiced apple cider

1 Tablespoon honey, local is best

1 teaspoon vanilla, vanilla bean paste or 1 vanilla bean scraped of seeds

1- 1” piece of ginger grated or ¼ teaspoon dried ground ginger

1 teaspoon Masala Chai powder

 

Peel, core and rough chop the apples, set aside. In a large pot, add the cider and honey, reduce by half. Then add the apples, vanilla and masala chai powder, stir well place lid on the pot and lower heat to medium low. After 30 minutes stir well, turn off heat and mash apples with a potato masher to a chunky consistency. Let cool and keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Butter Me A Biscuit and Sing To Me Tom Petty.

 

October 2nd 2017 was another usual Monday grocery store day. I was driving, listening to Tom Petty Radio on Sirius XM. There’s just something about the winding roads and rolling Central Texas hills sprinkled with live oak, pecan and mesquite trees. Listening to songs like Runnin’ Down a Dream, Good to Be King, Learning to Fly, Time to Move On and my personal favorite Walls (No. 3). There it was, the breakthrough announcement of his passing. My breath quickly left me like a deflated soufflé, my heart felt like it lost a beat and my body just stopped like so many others did in that moment. I thought “this is a joke, this can’t be real, someone has made a huge mistake. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers had just finished their 40th anniversary tour seven days ago. He was on top of his game, resting and relaxing at his home in California.”

Tom Petty 1985, photo credit Getty Images

Tears started to trickle down my face and I knew I was not the only one. There were many others in the parking lot with me, just sitting in their cars in shock. I was watching their mouths “What? Tom Petty, NO!” I could not believe the sadness that just washed over me, there was never going to be another Tom Petty or Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers new music album ever again. Just like the Traveling Wilburys, when “Lefty Wilbury”- Roy Orbison passed suddenly after a heart attack their music was never the same. The magic was gone.

That’s Tom to me, pure musical magic. Maybe because Gainesville, Florida is not too far from where my Grandfather spent time becoming a man. Working hard at learning under water plumbing and welding that one day would lead him to a career in the Navy and a Bronze Medal for his underwater demolition skills in WWII. I loved his stories about being that master plumbers apprentice the hot thick air, the Southern sound of music from the early 1930’s and how Florida was a place all on its own. But he also said once you have lived there you needed to move on from there if you wanted to become someone. Tom Petty said the same thing to Warren Zane, his friend and autobiographer many years later.

NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 09: Tom Petty speaks onstage during the Songwriters Hall Of Fame 47th Annual Induction And Awards at Marriott Marquis Hotel on June 9, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Songwriters Hall Of Fame )

I entered the grocery store, found my cart and slowly pushed it through the aisles, not a single thing was calling to me. I had wandered to about the middle of the store then turned down an isle and there was the display of White Lily Flour. Suddenly Miss Edna Lewis and her buttermilk biscuit recipe came bursting through my sad heart. If you don’t know who Edna Lewis is, please keep reading, if by chance you do know then enjoy a brief recap of her many accomplishments. Edna Lewis, born in 1916 was the Granddaughter of a Virginia emancipated slave who helped start the community of Freetown, Virginia. She may be known to some as the African-American Chef who was graced by the USPS with her own well-deserved stamp in the Forever Stamp Culinary Professionals Issue. To others she was an award winning culinary artist, the Mother of Southern Food. In 1995 the James Beard Foundation created an award for her, the distinguished Living Legend Award.

Kitchen Aid Cookbook Hall of Fame inducted her in 2003, Les Dames d’Escoffier named her Grande Dame in 1999. She grew up cooking food, simple food, real food with layers of rich flavor and love that translated into some of this world’s best and loved comfort food recipes. She became the Chef at Café Nicholson and there she erupted the culinary world with refined Southern Cooking! Tragedy happened, Edith broke her leg and for a bit of time she was sidelined from cooking. Then a meeting happened with Judith Jones, yes that Judith Jones the one who discovered Mastering the Art of French Cooking and Julia Child. Miss Edna was encouraged to turn over her hand-written pages of stories and recipes to create The Taste of Country Cooking, which in 1976 was published by Knopf publishing house.

So many of today’s Chefs have this very book on their shelves and refer to it often. Some culinary schools require their students to read it. Don’t believe me? Go find that book at your local library or bookstore then after reading the pages and working the recipes start looking at today’s comfort food recipes. There you will see the imprint she has made on cooks and chefs for over the past 40 years. She brought pan fried chicken and its simplicity to home cooks, light and flavorful buttermilk biscuits, fresh garden preserves and hands down her corn pudding recipe is the only one you will ever need. If you search the internet, please do yourself a favor skip all the “adapted from” recipes and stick to hers, the original. They are simply the best and so is her technique in my honest opinion.

White Lily Flour has been in production since 1883 with the company tag line of “When you bake with White Lily, you’re baking with history, tradition, and love.” If you have not baked with White Lily Flour you are in for a treat, it simply creates the lightest textured baked goods because it’s a soft red winter wheat. White Lily is the Southern staple for making biscuits, pie doughs and cakes. Well there it was, buttermilk biscuits the comfort food I needed and craved. Once I was home I gathered all the simple ingredients, salt, homemade leavening (* see recipe at the bottom of this post), Tenderflake Pure Bakers lard and real buttermilk. Now this is where I am a stickler, in no way can you make buttermilk from milk and lemon juice or vinegar, that simply is soured milk and not the same. Don’t do it! The powdered buttermilk, don’t use that either it’s considered a sin for this recipe. Your oven will be set at a very high temperature, please make sure your oven is clean or the smoke alarm will go off. That intense heat will create the perfect crisp golden outer layer, there’s a slight crunch when your teeth break through that buttered top biscuit only to be rewarded with the melt in your mouth tender leaf layers of the softest biscuit you will ever make if you don’t overwork the dough. I had my ingredients, my music playlist was queued, Tom Petty of course and I knew this Southern comfort food would set my sad musical heart on the path of healing.

While the biscuits baked away in the oven I thought about all “my Tom moments,” Tom Petty was there for my first kiss, my first heart break, my first swim team win and my first solo drive after earning my driver’s license. He was there in the hospital NICU while I sang “Learning to Fly” to my little preemie twins. Tom helped me through long baking days and nights at my café, he was there with us in our car as we drove to our new home in Texas. He is there with me every time I hook up my vintage trailer and hit the open road to find my adventures. He is there with me when I cook in our new home. Tom’s there when my kids sing out of tune and help sort laundry. He will also be there again with me as I dance at my son’s wedding in a few weeks. Tom Petty will forever be a story teller to me, his song writing has truly been that famous Dick Clark quote “Music is the soundtrack of our life.” My personal soundtrack happens to have Tom Petty, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch sprinkled through it more than any other musician I know and for that I am damn lucky and proud.

Miss Edna will be there too, to comfort my heart with her time-honored recipes, stories and accomplishments. Maybe I will share her delicious corn pudding recipe with my new neighbors, it is almost Thanksgiving time. Next year I will get over to Fredericksburg, Texas and gather a few pounds of fresh picked peaches to make her mind-blowing peach cobbler. Hopefully I have sparked an interest for you to discover her amazing talents. There is no other Chef I would be able to recommend for Southern Comfort food; Miss Edna Lewis is the Grande Dame.

Those two amazing legends have helped carve memories, traditions and launched dreams for so many. I absolutely urge you to buy these publications. The first, Petty: The Biography by Warren Zanes. The second, The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis. The third, The Gift of Southern Cooking by Edna Lewis & Scott Peacock. You will love them all, trust me.

RIP Tom Petty, you lived sir, you truly lived.

 

Edna Lewis’ Hot Crusty Buttermilk Biscuits

This recipe is from the book The Gift of Southern Cooking, it is simply the best and in no way, could anyone improve it. All credit goes to the Author and Creator Edna Lewis with thanks and praise!

5 cups White Lily Flour, sifted then measured

1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, aluminum free or homemade

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1/2 cup (1/4 pound) packed lard, chilled

1¼ cups buttermilk

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Method:

Preheat oven to 450°F

Put the flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl, and whisk well to blend thoroughly. Add the lard, and, working quickly, coat it in flour and rub between your fingertips until approximately half the lard is finely blended and the other half remains in large pieces, about 1/2 inch in size. Pour in the buttermilk, and stir quickly just until the dough is blended and begins to mass.

Turn the dough immediately out onto a floured surface, and with floured hands knead briskly eight to ten times, until it becomes cohesive.

Gently flatten the dough with your hands into a disk of even thinness; then, using a floured rolling pin, roll it out to a uniform thickness of 1/2 inch. With a dinner fork dipped in flour, pierce the dough completely through at 1/2-inch intervals. Lightly flour a 2½ or 3-inch biscuit cutter and stamp out rounds, without twisting the cutter in the dough. Cut the biscuits from the dough as close together as you can, for maximum yield. Transfer them to a parchment-lined baking sheet, placing them so that they just barely kiss. Don’t re-roll the scraps. Just arrange them around the edge of the sheet, and bake them – cook’s treat.

Put the baking sheet immediately on the center rack of the preheated oven.

Bake 10-12 minutes, checking after 6 minutes or so, and turning the pan if needed for even baking. When the biscuits are golden brown, remove from the oven and brush the tops with the melted butter.

* Homemade baking powder recipe by Edna Lewis

¼ cup cream of tarter

2 tablespoons baking soda

Mix well and keep in an air tight container for up to 6 months.

 

 

Irish Style Scones

 

I have this rather complex family heritage that includes: Irish, English, Australian, American Indian, Welsh, and U. S. A. Southern! My grandfather was a Georgia boy; and that honestly counts for heritage line itself! If he were alive today, he would insist that Southern came before all my other credits. If I had to choose a food item that represented my heritage I would choose the traditional British scone. My topping of choice for that lovely scone? Icy cold, thick, luxurious  double Devonshire cream! I could smother it on almost everything I eat….

I would participate in teatime at my grandmother Kathleen’s home. The formal living room and dining room were “off-limits’’ to children’s play. However this rule was null and void when it was “tea time.” A tray with the pink or yellow Chinese hand-painted teapot, Spode Queen’s Bird teacups, saucers and dessert plates set perfectly on her marble coffee table. I was allowed to sit wherever I chose, whether it was one of her Victorian chairs or the antique pale pink and gold raw silk covered setae.  This was teatime at Grandmother Kathleen’s home where the ceremony was rarely broken__ well, there were a few times usually when she had worked in the garden then tea time was held in the kitchen.

 Earl Gray or Orange Pekoe ** was steeped to perfection, you then had the choice of lemon, sugar or milk. However, if you chose Earl Grey, please do not add milk to this lovely, uplifting citrus perfumed black tea. Cookies, tea biscuits and upon special occasion scones were on the dessert platter! I always chose the scone. They had a light texture and a slight nuttiness from the flour; there was a good acidity from the baking powder; and, a rich, and tender feel in my mouth due to the butter, cream and double Devonshire cream piled a mile high!

A few years after her passing, I found her recipe card and there was the secret ingredient “OATMEAL” get out!! Are you kidding me? My proper British Grandmother, the red headed look a like version of Queen Elizabeth II was a scone-making rule breaking badass. I knew I loved her so!

Weeks before my bakery and café opened, I knew these scones would steal the show; and, oh boy did they ever. Newspaper articles were written about them; and, customers called into reserve them early in the morning! I did a cooking faux pas. I only made three-dozen a day and that was it, that’s all! My customers knew to get to my Café early in the morning; and, the scones would still be hot out of the oven with beautiful plump raisins at bursting point waiting for them.

Each batch makes six perfect triangles; however, I recommend doubling the recipe. The dough freezes well for up to a month. But I doubt you will ever keep these scones waiting in the freezer for that long. This is a huge leap of faith on my part to share this recipe with you. I am no longer in the world of retail; I’m not scared about my competition stealing my secret. Go ahead and make a batch, pour yourself a cuppa, load on the double Devonshire cream and just take a timeout to be quiet.

Cheers!

Kathleen’s Scones

Yields 6
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 30 min
Total Time: 45 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
  2. ½ c oat oatmeal
  3. 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  4. 1 tablespoon baking powder
  5. 4 ounces cubed cold salted butter
  6. ¾ cup heavy cream
  7. ¼ cup half and half
  8. ½ cup raisins
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
  2. In a food processor grind the oatmeal for 1 minute then add the flour, sugar and baking powder. Pulse for 30 seconds, and then while the food processor is on slowly add your cold cubed butter. Process until the dough no longer spins around the bowl it will just stick to the sides. Remove dough from the food processor and place it in a large bowl, add raisins mix well and add the heavy cream. Mix until soft dough comes together but is not too sticky. Add half and half if needed. Then turn out onto your counter and softly knead until the dough comes together. Next, pat the dough out the shape of a circle until it is about 1” thick. Cut dough into 6 triangles; do not worry about being precise. Place scones on a parchment-lined pan and bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the tops are golden. Once done, remove from oven cool for 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy.
Notes
  1. I have used the zest of blood oranges and candied ginger, chocolate chips, blueberries, fresh raspberries, pumpkin pie spice, lemon zest and lemon zest with candies ginger. The additions are countless, I’ve even made these scones savory with the addition of fresh herbs, peppercorns and spices.

** Orange Peko tea does not taste of orange- it is referring to the black tea leaves grading; OP, BOP and FOP are the basic grading labels. OP- Orange Pekoe, BOP Broken Orange Pekoe and FOP Fancy Orange Pekoe.