Shamrocks AKA Cloverleaf Dinner Rolls

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I know. I know. It's a stretch, but I needed a batch of bake once-serve twice rolls that could be served for dinner on St. Patrick's Day as well as Easter Sunday. While doing research for an earlier post on Edna Lewis, I came across the recipe she used to make old-fashioned cloverleaf rolls. The recipe belonged to her mother and I knew immediately that I wanted to try it. The rolls shown in the photograph above were made using her recipe, and, while I'm sharing it with you today, I'm also going to direct you to an easier version that was developed by her partner, Scott Peacock. You can find his recipe here, and if you'd like to see a video of the rolls being made you might want to view this link. I'm suggesting an alternate recipe because Edna's rolls, which use a starter that must sit for a day before using, are made with a sticky dough that is difficult to work with. Scott's version is quite straight forward and much easier to handle. Both recipes are similar in taste, though the use of a potato starter and lard put hers a notch above his in terms of flavor. If you are an experienced hand at bread baking, or are a patient beginner, use her recipe. If you want something that's easy to execute, use his. Both recipes tend to produce sticky doughs but the amount of extra flour you will need is easier to control in Scott's version. Under the best of circumstances, the dough in both recipes will remain tacky, so don't be alarmed. As long as the dough doesn't stick to your fingers you'll be fine. The good news is that these rolls require no kneading, and once they are baked they freeze beautifully. Those of you who try these will be happy campers. Here is Edna's recipe.

Cloverleaf Dinner Rolls...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Edna Lewis and Food and Wine Magazine

Ingredients:
1 medium baking potato ( 1/2 pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch dice
3 cups water
5-1/2 cups plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 envelope active dry yeast
1 cup milk, scalded and cooled
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 tablespoons lard or solid vegetable shortening, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon salt

Directions:
1) In a medium saucepan, cover potato with water and bring to a boil. Cook until potato is just beginning to fall apart, about 15 minutes. Drain potato, reserving 1 cup of cooking liquid. Pass potato through a ricer into a large bowl. Add reserved potato water and let cool slightly. Stir in 6 tablespoons of flour, sugar and yeast. Cover bowl with a kitchen towel and let stand overnight in a draft-free place.
2) Uncover starter; it should be foamy and have a slightly fermented aroma. Add milk, eggs and 2-1/2 cups of flour and stir until incorporated. Stir in 1 tablespoon of butter, 2 tablespoons of lard and salt. Add remaining 3 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time, and stir vigorously to form a silky, slightly soft dough that pulls away from the bowl as you stir, about 8 minutes. It will still be tacky but will not stick to your hands.
3) Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise until doubled in bulk, about 1-1/2 hours.
4) Gently deflate dough by turning it in bowl several times. Cover bowl and let dough rise again until doubled, about 40 minutes.
5) In a small bowl, combine remaining 6 tablespoons of melted butter and 2 tablespoons of melted lard. Punch down dough and divide it into 5 equal pieces. Cut 1 piece of dough into 18 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball; dip balls in melted butter and lard and place 3 balls in each cup of a muffin pan. Continue to form rolls, working with 1 large piece of dough at a time. Brush tops of the rolls with the butter and lard and set aside in a draft-free spot until risen just beyond the rims of the muffin cups, about 1 1/2 hours.
6) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Bake rolls in the lower and middle thirds of oven for 15 minutes. Remove rolls from oven and brush liberally with butter and lard. Return rolls to the oven and bake for 5 to 6 minutes longer, or until golden all over. Serve warm or at room temperature. Yield: 2-1/2 dozen cloverleaf rolls.

Cook's Note: To make ahead, prepare dough through step 4. Gently punch down and refrigerate, covered, overnight. Bring to room temperature and proceed with recipe.








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50 Women Game Changers in Food - #36 Edna Lewis - Silken Turnip and Potato Soup

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...It doesn't happen often, but sometimes I literally have to look up to the people I look up to. Edna Lewis, a giant of a woman and one whose influence in the food world was enormous, holds position 36 on the Gourmet Live list of 50 Women Game Changers in Food. She was born the grandchild of freed slaves and was raised in the rural community of Freetown, Virginia which they helped to found. She was taught to cook over a wood stove by her Aunt Jenny and the basic skills she learned there were the foundation on which a great culinary career was built. She left home following the death of her father and at 16 found herself in Washington, D.C. She would later move to New York City where her reputation as a Southern cook began to grow. While Edna, a political activist, would go on to become a great chef, and, as a custodian of true Southern cooking, teach a generation of young cooks all she knew, her first jobs in the city were as as a laundress and seamstress. She also worked for a period of time at The Daily Worker and married Steve Kingston, a communist who would later object to her feeding the elite. Shortly after her marriage she met John Nicholson, an antiques dealer who loved Southern cooking. Together they opened a restaurant, The Café Nicholson, where she did all the cooking. Her dishes were simple, delicious Southern food but the café attracted numerous famous faces and it became a watering hole for the literati and glitterati of the day. Edna stayed with restaurant until 1954. In the late 1960's, an injury forced her to stop cooking professionally. Encouraged by Craig Claiborne and Judith Jones, another of our 50 Women Game Changers, she produced her first cookbook, The Edna Lewis Cookbook. Several years later she published what has come to be known as the classic study of Southern cooking, The Taste of Country Cooking. I quote now, " Her books are as much personal memoirs as collections of recipes. They contain wonderful histories of Southern food and reflections on rural life. Her books are full of tips acquired from a lifetime of cooking. Edna’s pioneering chapters on fresh foods and seasonality predate the American culinary revolution." Edna also lived and worked in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina and Decatur, Georgia. She retired as a chef in 1992 and in the mid-1990’s, she and a group of friends started the Society for the Revival and Preservation of Southern Food. In 2003, she and Scott Peacock, a friend and collaborator, published The Gift of Southern Cooking. She died in 2006 at the age of 89. Some considered her to be "the South's answer to Julia Child". I consider her to be an original who beat the odds and, in the course of her journey, left footprints that made the journey of others infinitely easier.

I have an old copy of a special issue of Food and Wine magazine, called Chef's Recipes Made Easy, and Edna Lewis is one of those featured in the publication. Her contribution is a series of courses that make up a Southern Thanksgiving meal. One of the recipes I'd marked to try was her version of Silken Turnip and Potato Soup. This post gave me the incentive I needed to give it a try. Happily, I can recommend this without reservation. If you are looking for a soup with which to start a meal, this is a perfect candidate. I hope you will give it a try. Here's the recipe.

Silken Turnip and Potato Soup...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 medium onions, thinly sliced
3 pounds turnips, peeled and thinly sliced
1-1/2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
Salt
6 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup finely shredded basil, for garnish

Directions:
1) In a large heavy stockpot or casserole, melt butter until it foams. When foam subsides, add onions and cook over moderate heat until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add turnips and potatoes and stir to coat with the butter. Add 2 teaspoons of salt, cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 20 minutes.
2) Stir in chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Cover partially and cook over moderate heat until the vegetables are very tender, about 10 minutes. Working in batches, puree soup in a blender until perfectly smooth. Return soup to the pot and season with salt and nutmeg. Ladle soup into shallow bowls and garnish with the basil before serving. Yield: 12 servings.

Cook's Note: The soup can be made and refrigerated a day before serving.

The following bloggers are also featuring the recipes of Edna Lewis today. I hope you'll pay them all a visit. They are great cooks who have wonderful blogs.

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan - The Spice Garden
Heather - girlichef, Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette - Healthy Living
Mary - One Perfect Bite, Kathleen - Bake Away with Me, Sue - The View from Great Island
Barbara - Movable Feasts , Linda A - There and Back Again, Nancy - Picadillo
Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen
Annie - Most Lovely Things, Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook, Alyce - More Time at the Table, Amrita - Beetles Kitchen Escapades

Next week we will highlight the career and recipes of Severine von Tscharner Fleming. It will be really interesting to see what everyone comes up with. If you'd like to join us please email me for additional information no later than Monday, February 27th.