Recipes from Sara Foster's New Cookbook

pimiento cheese with cornbread toasts

Whether spread on saltines, white bread, or “celery boats,” tangy, creamy Pimiento Cheese is seriously habit-forming. A simple mix of mayonnaise or cream cheese, shredded Cheddar, and jarred red peppers, Pimiento Cheese is one of those unassuming Southern classics that can sometimes be a hard sell for people who didn’t grow up on it. But when it’s made right, it’s easy to see why Southerners are so passionate about it. Try it—it may just become your new obsession.

MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (8 ounces) grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup (3 ounces) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• One 4-ounce jar pimiento peppers, drained and chopped
• 1⁄2 cup your favorite or Homemade Mayonnaise (page 280)
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• Pinch of ground cayenne pepper
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine the Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses, pimiento peppers, mayonnaise, vinegar, honey, cayenne, and salt and black pepper to taste in a bowl and stir to blend. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, or for up to 1 week. For best flavor, make 1 day ahead.

When ready to serve, remove from the refrigerator and let come to room temperature.

cornbread toasts

These crunchy, savory toasts are the upside of cornbread’s short shelf life. Scrumptious and versatile, they can be used in dozens of dishes and snacks—but I’m especially partial to the way they complement zingy Pimiento Cheese.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Cut day-old cornbread into slices about 1⁄4 inch thick and 2 inches long. Brush lightly with olive oil and place in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and cool slightly. Spoon a dollop of Pimiento Cheese (recipe above) on one end of each toast and garnish with an arugula or celery leaf. Serve warm or at room temperature.

carolina rice pudding brûlée

Humble rice pudding gets a serious makeover with the addition of flavorful, fat-grained Carolina Gold rice and a glassy, sugared brûlée crust.

MAKES SIX 4-OUNCE SERVINGS

Ingredients:

• 3 cups milk
• 3⁄4 cup Carolina Gold or other long-grain white rice
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1⁄2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 6 tablespoons natural cane sugar or granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease six 4-ounce ramekins and place on a rimmed baking sheet.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the milk to a low simmer over medium heat with the rice, vanilla bean and reserved seeds, and salt. Raise the heat to medium and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender and the mixture is thick and creamy, 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove from the heat and discard the vanilla bean. Add the heavy cream and granulated sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. Cool slightly, then stir in the egg yolks, butter, nutmeg, and cloves.

Divide the pudding evenly between the prepared ramekins and bake for about 10 minutes,

until slightly puffed but still soft in the center. Remove from the oven.

Preheat the broiler or prepare a small kitchen torch. Sprinkle each pudding evenly with about 1 tablespoon of the natural cane sugar.

If using a broiler, place under the broiler in the upper third of the oven until the sugar caramelizes, rotating the baking sheet to evenly brown, 1 to 2 minutes. If using a kitchen torch, torch each pudding individually to caramelize the sugar, being careful to keep the torch at the distance recommended by the manufacturer. Serve warm.

brown bag chicken

For as long as I can remember, my mom has been cooking chicken in oven bags, those oven-safe plastic bags. So when I recently started roasting chicken in a brown paper bag, I felt sort of like I was going back to my roots. It works great because the paper bag traps just enough steam to make the chicken supermoist and tender, while at the same time letting enough steam escape to allow the skin to get golden brown. It always amazes me that the bag doesn’t catch on fire—so much so that I think of this as half recipe and half magic trick. Just make sure your broiler is turned off and the bag is not touching the top of the oven.

SERVES 4

Ingredients:

• One 3- to 3 1⁄2-pound chicken
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 onion, cut in half
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon ground hot Hungarian paprika

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Rinse the chicken, pat dry, and remove any excess fat. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper to taste inside and out. Place the onion and rosemary inside the cavity and rub the outside of the chicken with the paprika.

Lay a standard-size brown paper grocery bag on its side and place the chicken inside, tying the top of the bag closed with kitchen string. Place the bagged chicken on a rimmed baking sheet in the lower third of the oven, so you have plenty of room at the top. Cook for 11⁄2 hours, remove the chicken from the oven, and carefully open the bag to release the steam. Check for doneness by inserting an internal thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh; it should read about 165°F and the juices should run clear when the thigh is pierced with the tip of a small knife. Let rest for about 10 minutes before carving. Slice the breasts and cut the wings, legs, and thighs into pieces. Serve warm.

Note: This recipe also works with plastic disposable oven cooking bags.

Recipes excerpted from Sara Foster’s Southern Kitchen by Sara Foster Copyright © 2011 by Sara Foster. Excerpted by permission of Random House, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.