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Unless you order a country ham from the south, it’s difficult to purchase one here in the NY/NJ area. In fact, one year my husband and I bought one and served it for Easter dinner. It’s not meant to be served as a main course. Country ham is salt-cured, aged from 70 to 200 days which preserves the ham for months or longer. Country hams have a salty flavor and is best served thinly sliced as an accompaniment on a breakfast table, cocktail party or garnish to other meats. I used a delicious spiral sliced ham that my son gave us from Smithfield Hams. You can probably substitute good quality deli smoked ham such as Black Forest. To further enhance the biscuit, Ms. Cobbs makes a tomato chutney-mustard that is spread on the inside of the biscuit. I had difficulty locating tomato chutney in my local grocery store, but found an easy recipe on the internet to make myself. You can purchase tomato chutney online, but you need just two tablespoons for the spread.
For the cheese straws you’ll need all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, dry mustard, kosher salt, garlic powder, cayenne, unsalted butter, buttermilk, tomato chutney-mustard butter and thinly sliced cooked country ham. The biscuits start out being made in your food processor. The dry ingredients are pulsed several times before cold butter cubes are mixed in. The butter and flour is pulsed until it resembles coarse meal. Next, shredded cheddar cheese is mixed in by pulsing it an additional several times. The dry ingredients are dumped into a large mixing bowl to which buttermilk is added. The dough is turned out onto a lightly floured surface so that you can knead it into a cohesive ball. The dough is rolled out into a 1/2-inch rectangle from which you can cut squares or use a 2-1/2 or 3-inch biscuit cutter. The biscuits are baked for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden. To make your own tomato chutney you’ll need olive oil, minced shallot, minced garlic, tomatoes, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, ground ginger, cumin, chili powder and salt. As I was making half a recipe of the biscuits, I did the same for the chutney. The chutney begins by sautéing shallot and garlic in olive oil until softened. Diced tomatoes are added along with the sugar, vinegar, ginger, cumin, chili powder and salt. The mixture cooks for approximately one hour until it is a jammy consistency. You can either mash the mixture with your hand, pulse in a food processor or use an immersion blender. Note, if you’re making a small quantity, you may want to put your tomatoes in a tall jar, then use the immersion blender for better results. To finish preparing the butter, you’ll add your tomato chutney to softened salted butter, along with dry mustard and grainy Dijon mustard. To assemble, split the biscuit in half and spread the chutney-mustard butter on both sides, add a slice or two of ham and place other half of biscuit on top. If you’re making the biscuits ahead, which is what I did, you’ll need to preheat your oven to 350°, wrap the finished biscuit in foil and reheat in the oven for 5 to 8 minutes. My husband fell in love with the sandwich. The ham, which we had before, was moist and tender. The cheese biscuit dressed with the tomato chutney-mustard butter added a delicious flavor with the spiciness of the Dijon, the sweetness of the tomato chutney which all melted slightly from the warmth of the oven, so good! This recipe received an asterisk denoting to make again. Another memorable meal from this past week was found in “Southern Living Magazine,” Bourbon-Braised Short Ribs. I hadn’t made short ribs in a while and this recipe called to me, or perhaps it was the bourbon. Besides the short ribs and bourbon for this recipe, you’ll need kosher salt, black pepper, a neutral oil, yellow onion, celery, fresh garlic, dried bay leaves, tomato paste, beef broth, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, whole-grain mustard, and fresh parsley. The recipe begins by browning the meat in a Dutch oven (I used my Le Creuset braiser). Once browned, the meat is removed from the pan and the onion, celery, garlic and bay leaves are added and cooked until lightly browned. Next, clear a spot in the pan and add the tomato paste and cook until lightly browned followed by mixing all the ingredients together. The broth, bourbon, molasses. Worcestershire and some of the mustard is stirred in. The short ribs are added back to the pan, covered and bakes for 2 to 2-1/4 hour. When the meat is done, remove the meat and pour the braising liquid through a mesh strainer. There will be a layer of fat which you’ll need to skim off; I suggest using a fat separator. Add the strained liquid back to the pan and whisk in the remaining grainy mustard. What a wonderful meal. The short ribs were fork tender, almost no need for a knife. The sauce was delicious from the heartiness of the beef stock, the molasses Worcestershire adding a savory umami flavor along with depth and complexity. This was another recipe receiving an asterisk last week. Let’s end last week’s round up on a sweet note with Almond Frangipane Cookies from the website “Bake from Scratch.” I love almond croissants, but these cookies have the same flavor. For the recipe you’ll need all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, kosher salt, light brown sugar, unsalted butter, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract, sliced almonds and confectioners’ sugar for garnishing. In one bowl you’ll add the flours, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In another bowl the brown sugar, melted butter and granulated sugar are combined. The eggs and extracts are whisked in then the flour is added and combined until there are no dry streaks. This will be a soft dough. Place the sliced almonds in a small bowl. While the recipe called for a 3-tablespoon spring-loaded scoop, I opted to use a #40 cookie scoop (approximately 1.6 tablespoons) as I didn’t want a large cookie. I carefully placed the dough ball in the bowl of sliced almonds and delicately pressed the almonds on. They were then placed on a parchment lined baking sheet and chilled in the refrigerator for 45 minutes to an hour. The cookies were placed on a baking sheet and baked for 17 minutes. If you’re making them larger, it could take up to 20 minutes. However, I found after baking and cooling on the pan for 10 minutes, my smaller cookies should have went for less time as they could have been chewier. However, this didn’t deter us from enjoying the cookies as they were fabulous. If you have a question about a recipe, click on "Contact" to reach me. Be sure to include your email address so I can directly reply to you.
Cheese Straw Biscuits with Country Ham
Recipe by Katherine Cobbs “Garden and Gun Magazine” April/May 2024 Yield: 16 to 18 biscuits Ingredients For the biscuits 4½ cups sifted all-purpose flour 1½ tbsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. sugar 1 tbsp. dry mustard 2½ tsp. kosher salt 1 tsp. garlic powder ½ tsp. cayenne ¾ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes 8 oz. extra-sharp cheddar cheese, freshly shredded 1¾ cups buttermilk Tomato chutney-mustard butter (recipe follows) 12 oz. thinly sliced cooked country ham For the tomato chutney-mustard butter ½ cup salted butter, softened ¼ tsp. dry mustard 2 tbsp. tomato chutney 1 tbsp. grainy Dijon mustard Preparation
Tomato Chutney
“The Recipe Critic” website Recipe developed by Alyssa River Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 25 minutes Total Time: 35 minutes Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil ½ T 1 shallot, minced ½ of a shallot 2 teaspoons garlic, minced 1 tea. 4 large tomatoes, diced 2 large 1/3 cup brown sugar 5-1/3 T 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 2 T 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 1/8 t 1/2 teaspoon cumin ¼ t 1/2 teaspoon chili powder ¼ t 1 teaspoon salt ½ t Instructions
Measurements in red is for half recipe 
Bourbon-Braised Short Ribs
“Southern Living Magazine,” December 2024 Active Time: 40 minutes Total Time: 2 hours to 2-1/4 hours Servings: 6 to 8 Ingredients 5 lb. beef short ribs (about 8 to 10 short ribs) 1 1/2 Tbsp. kosher salt 1 tsp. black pepper 3 Tbsp. canola oil 1 yellow onion, finely chopped (1 1/2 cups) 4 celery stalks, finely chopped (1 cup) 4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed 3 dried bay leaves 2 Tbsp. tomato paste 2 1/2 cups beef broth 1 cup bourbon 3 Tbsp. molasses 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce 3 Tbsp. whole-grain mustard, divided Chopped fresh tender herbs (such as parsley or tarragon) Directions
Make it Easier: You can prepare these short ribs in your slow cooker for equally tasty results. Follow the recipe as directed through step 2. Omit step 3; transfer onion mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker. Nestle short ribs into broth mixture in slow cooker, meaty sides down. Cover and cook on LOW until short ribs are tender, 8 to 9 hours. Proceed with Step 4 as directed.
Almond Frangipane Cookies
From the website “Bake from Scratch” Yield: 18 large cookies Ingredients 2¼ cups (281 grams) all-purpose flour 1 cup (96 grams) blanched almond flour ¾ teaspoon (3.75 grams) baking powder ½ teaspoon (1.5 grams) kosher salt ¼ teaspoon (1.25 grams) baking soda 1¼ cups (275 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar* 1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly ¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar 2 large eggs (100 grams) 2 teaspoons (8 grams) vanilla extract 1 teaspoon (4 grams) almond extract 1½ cups (170 grams) sliced almonds Garnish with confectioners’ sugar Instructions
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