Cabbie’s Cooking

I visited Memphis last week (see previous post), and when we had dinner at the Blues City Cafe, people were buying their apple dumplings like crazy.  Our table was near the counter, and so I was able to watch the cook/chef put the dish together several times.  This is how he did it:

Apple Dumplings - Blues City Cafe Style

(1) Take a small cast iron skillet (one-serving size), place it in the oven until it is piping hot.

(2) Toss a scoop of butter in the skillet (probably a tablespoon) - it will sizzle and melt.

(3) Take an apple dumpling (They had them pre-made and packaged individually on a small paper plate covered with plastic wrap) and heat it in the microwave.  Then dump the dumpling in the skillet.

(4) Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of the dumpling.

(5)  Drizzle caramel syrup all over it.

(6) Enjoy

They’d bring the apple dumplings to the table in the skillet with a little potholder fitted on the handle. They had a small wooden tray under the skillet.  They were selling like hotcakes. 

Two of the teachers in our group of ten ordered the dumplings and passed them around for everyone to taste.  I declined - don’t ask me why.  Everyone raved on and on about how delicious it was!  Even the next day some of them were still talking about it.  I was sorry I didn’t taste it myself.

The question now is:  How did they make the apple dumplings?  I don’t know their recipe, but here’s how I’ve made them in the past:

Cut up some apples - very thin slices, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon or apple pie spice.  Wrap a pie crust (or a flattened, uncooked canned biscuit) around about 1/4 cup of apple slices.  Crimp the edges to seal it.  Use a knife to make a couple vents in the top.  Dot with butter. Make however many apple dumplings you want.  One per serving.  Bake at 350 until golden brown.

Once they’re cooked you can add ice cream, caramel sauce - whatever sounds good.  I remember once I made apple dumplings with whole apples - coring them, filling the center with brown sugar and nuts, wrapping pastry around them and baking them.  They were good - but much too big for a single serving.

There’s a Panera Bread restaurant near us, and RT and I love their Broccoli Cheddar soup.  I did an internet search to find the recipe.  The problem was that there were different recipes that all claimed to be THE Panera Bread recipe.  There were some common ingredients, though, and so I could figure out the basics of the recipe.  Most of the recipes recommended putting all the ingredients in a blender at the end.  However, I like little chunks of veggies in my soup.  Nothing substantial or large, but enough to give the soup a little texture.  So I left out the blending step.  Instead, I diced  all the veggies finely and then sauteed them together before adding them to the soup.

When RT and I had his office Christmas party here last week, we decided to have soup and sandwiches as the mainstays of the dinner.  I took a leap of faith and decided to make two soups I’d never made before:  Chicken and sausage gumbo, along with the broccoli cheddar soup.   I’ll save the gumbo for a later post (it was wonderful!), and I’ll present the broccoli cheddar soup here.   The soup turned out great - and it looked really pretty, too.  After I made the soup and the gumbo, I put each into a crock pot, turned the crock pot on warm, and then set out bowls and spoons and let my guests serve themselves.  It was a great way to handle a dinner party.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

1 T. butter

1/2 medium onion, diced finely

1/2 pound fresh broccoli, chopped well

1 cup carrots, shredded

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 cups half-and-half

2 cups chicken stock

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

salt and pepper, to taste

8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese

Saute onion in 1 Tablespoon butter.  After about five minutes, add the shredded carrots and chopped broccoli and saute briefly.  Put lid on pan (so veggies will continue to cook) and set aside.  Combine the 1/4 cup melted butter and 1/4 cup flour in a large saucepan using a whisk.  Cook on medium heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Slowly add the half-and-half, stirring constantly, until thick.  Add the chicken stock, whisking all the time.  Simmer for about 20 minutes.

Add the onion/carrot/broccoli mixture, and cook over low heat until the vegetables are tender - about 20-30 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Add the grated cheese and nutmeg.  Stir until blended.  Enjoy.