Carrie's Rolls

One Saturday each  month I accompany my good friend (and neighbor) to a house not far from uptown Charlotte.  It sits on a tree-lined street of nice homes with manicured lawns.  There is no sign saying it is the Samaritan House, established in 2005, or that it shelters those who are homeless.  To go one step further, it specifically shelters men and women who have recently been released from local hospitals.  There are usually only a few guests and Carrie, their watchful 'house mother'.

It has been nearly two years since I prepared that first Saturday evening meal at the Samaritan House.  My sense of self worth had been battered by unemployment and my daily rituals were a 5:15 a.m. workout in the gym, followed by seven hours of job hunting with several hours left for wallowing in self-pity.  One morning on the way home from a workout, my perceptive friend, (who also drove me to the gym) casually asked  if I would be willing to prepare a meal on Saturday.  She would buy the ingredients and pay me to cook.  My reply was something on the order of, "I don't need to be paid to cook!"

For the next several days my free time was spent searching through cookbooks and trying to create a menu that would be memorable.  The day before, it suddenly dawned on me--the people who would eat this meal were homeless, hungry and recovering from injuries.  My menu would be comfort food and the dinner menu was suddenly crystal clear.  Pot roast with gravy, potatoes, carrots and homemade dinner rolls.

That Saturday I watched the faces of the guests as they ate their meal.  There were trips for second helpings and not a scrap left.  Carrie fell in love with the rolls and fragrant smell of yeast wafting through the house as  they warmed in the oven.  The second time I cooked she asked if we would bring "those rolls."  Nearly two years later I almost always bring Carrie's Rolls.   It is my pleasure to share the recipe.  You can call them whatever you like, but to me they will always be Carrie's Rolls.

This recipe is designed to let the dough mix and rise in a bread maker, then bake in the oven.


Dough:

1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg
3 1/4 cups bread flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons yeast

Directions:

1. In order listed, place all ingredients in bread machine.  Select dough cycle. (Sweet dough if available on your machine).
2. Divide dough into 16 pieces. (I find it easiest to divide in half and keep dividing into halves until I get 16). Shape each piece into a ball.  Place 1-2 inches apart on cookie sheet lined with foil or Silpat.  Cover; let rise 30-40 minutes or until double.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Just before baking, brush tops with melted butter if desired.
4. Bake 11-13 minutes and enjoy!

  

Grown Up Mac and Cheese

We all have a favorite comfort food.  Mine has always been macaroni and cheese. Homemade--not the stuff in the box.  While my mom made really great mac and cheese, I have always searched for new recipes.  Years ago I came across a recipe in SAVEUR, a great foodie magazine.  It is rich, creamy, decadent and can be called grown up because there is a bit of cayenne pepper to turn up the flavor.  It's not difficult to make, but be sure to allow yourself about 30 minutes of prep time plus another 30 minutes of baking.  This recipe is a splurge, not calorie friendly, but isn't that why we exercise?  I promise you will love it.

8 tbsp. (one stick) unsalted butter
6 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. cayenne (red) pepper
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
3 3/4 cups hot milk
4 cups grated sharp cheddar, divided (freshly grated tastes best)
1 lb. ditalini (short macaroni), cooked
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt 6 tbsp. butter in a medium stainless-steel saucepan  over low heat.  Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes.  (It is essential for the flour to foam while it cooks or the sauce will taste like raw flour).  Stir in the cayenne pepper and season to taste with salt and white pepper.  Whisk in hot milk, 1/2 cup at a time, and cook, stirring until the sauce thickens.  Reduce heat to low and stir in 2 cups of cheese.  Cook and stir until cheese melts, about 2 minutes.

2.  Combine pasta and sauce in a large bowl.  Sprinkle 1/2 cup of cheese over the bottom of a buttered 8" x 11" baking dish.  Place one-third of the pasta in the dish, top with 1/2 cup of cheese, then repeat, layering pasta and cheese, ending with the cheese, making three layers in all.  Pour cream over assembled macaroni and cheese.

3.  Melt remaining 2 tbsp. of butter in a skillet.  Add bread crumbs, coat with melted butter, and sprinkle over the macaroni and cheese.  Bake until crust is golden, about 30 minutes.  Allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Loving the Heat of Summer

As a transplanted "Southerner" I have learned to expect intensely hot and humid summers.  This summer has been exceptionally warm, and the heat has extended far beyond our southern borders.  I spend more time indoors than out during these blistering heat spells, but as a child growing up in Ohio near the Lake Erie shores, my siblings and I reveled in the heat of summer.

Since we were a family of seven, my parents couldn't afford luxurious vacations or a built-in swimming pool with five mouths to feed.  When we were younger we cooled off by running through the sprinkler or simply letting mom spray us with the garden hose.

When I was eleven we got our very first swimming pool.  It was only about 24 inches deep and about a dozen feet wide, but it seemed like heaven.  It sat on the cement foundation where our barn had been.  My sisters and I would wake early and beg to go swimming by eight in the morning.  Mom would tell us we couldn't go in the water until the water temperature in the pool reached 70 degrees, thus beginning the agonizingly slow process of watching the mercury rise on the pool thermometer.  Like sentries on guard duty, my sisters and I would take turns monitoring until the summer sun would warm the water from the overnight 60s to the magic 70 degrees.  We would stay in the water until we were wrinkled, and our lips blue from the cold.

As an adult I prefer my pool water more on the tepid side (85 degrees) and there is no way I would put my big toe in 70 degree water!  On a day like today in the south when the temperature is pushing past 95 degrees and the humidity is equally high, I will close my eyes and remember how we begged for the heat of summer to warm our little pool.  Ah, let's just keep loving the heat of summer.