As the new chef-in- residence at Woodford Reserve Distillery, Ouita Michel, chef/owner of Holly Hill Inn in Midway, will be creating special events at the historic distillery in Woodford County.
On July 17, Michel's Woodford in the Kitchen event will feature the Taste of Kentucky dinner that she served at the invitation of the James Beard Foundation in New York City in 2004. The menu includes benedictine and smoked trout canapés, tartlets filled with caviar, baby hoecake hot Browns, country ham-and-corn custard, cream of fresh pea soup, Bibb lettuces with baby beets and buttermilk-cucumber dressing, and lavender-and-rosemary-scented roast leg of lamb. The dinner, from 6:30 to 9 p.m., will be at the Dryer House Conference Center at Woodford Reserve, 7855 McCracken Pike. The dinner is $95. Call (859) 879-1934.
Rossi's gives back
Versions of a chess pie recipe won first and second place for Barbara Harper-Bach at the Great American Pie Contest last week at Cheapside Park.
Harper-Bach entered her early- American chess pie and a chocolate version of the same pie in the contest, which was part of the Fourth of July festivities. Here's her recipe:
RECIPE
Early-American chess pie
Crust:
11⁄3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening
3 tablespoons ice water
Filling:
1½ cups sugar
½ cup melted butter
3 eggs
1½ teaspoons corn meal
1½ teaspoons vinegar
1½ teaspoons good quality vanilla
Freshly grated nutmeg
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. To make crust, whisk flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter or fork until mixture is pea size. Using a fork, stir in ice water 1 tablespoon at a time. When mixture is blended, gather it into a ball. Place dough on flour-dusted counter top and roll out to fit a 9-inch pie pan. Place in pie pan and flute edges. Put in refrigerator until ready to fill.
Put sugar and melted butter in a large bowl. Mix at low speed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low. Add remaining ingredients, beating just enough to combine. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Place pie in oven and turn heat down to 400 degrees. Bake 15 minutes, then bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes more, or until done. Pie will puff way up and center will not jiggle when you give it a little shake. Let cool before serving. Serve with fresh blackberries in the summer.
For chocolate chess pie: Add 3 tablespoons cocoa powder to filling.
A search for innovative products
Lifetime Brands, a developer of kitchenware and home-décor products, is seeking new outdoor cookware and grilling product innovation from consumers.
Through July 28, anyone who has an idea for a new product that will enhance the barbecue experience may submit ideas to the search hosted by Edison Nation.
Participants whose ideas are selected for development by Lifetime Brands each receive a $2,500 cash advance payment and a percentage of product sales for as long as 20 years. Information is at www.edisonnation.com.
'Zero' doesn't necessarily mean none
One way shoppers determine which foods to buy at the supermarket is by reading nutrition labels and ingredient lists.
A survey, commissioned by Smart Balance, found that consumers rank "zero grams trans fat per serving" as the most important statement they look for on the label for heart health.
But you might be surprised to learn that "zero" isn't always zero when it comes to trans fat. Products labeled "zero grams trans fat" could contain as much as 0.49 grams trans fat per serving under U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines. That means people could unknowingly exceed the American Heart Association's recommended limit of no more than 2 grams of trans fat a day.
If "partially hydrogenated oil" is in the list of ingredients, there's trans fat in the product no matter what it says on the package.
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