Southern Fried Chicken 'Slaw & Pecan Pie!!

Phew - my first attempt at American food was ok!!

My Mum was visiting & I needed an excuse to cook. She's a fussy eater so I had to be careful. I'd offered her some of my curried goat at the market earlier in the day & I thought she was going to pass out! Surely Southern Fried Chicken was safe??!!

Recipe: Free range chicken thighs & drumsticks

Enough buttermilk to cover chicken

Plain flour (3 cups -oh yeah, American measurements baby!)

Paprika (2 tbl sp)

Salt & pepper

Ground nut oil (1/2 cup)

Marinade chicken in buttermilk overnight (if you can't buy it, sour some whole milk with lemon juice - same thing!!)

Shake together chicken & mix in a plastic bag. Bake in 180 c/gas 4/350 f for 45 mins.

Recipe: No exact measurements here, best to do it by eye.

Green Cabbage.

Red Cabbage (can be bitter so optional).

Carrott.

Mayo.

Cider Vinegar (to taste).

Salt.

Just shred & mix.

I served it with 2 types of potato wedge (sweet & regular pots), sweetcorn, BBQ sauce & ketchup! YUM!

I am a desserts kind o' gal - I really am. I not only LOVE to cook pies & cake but I LOVE to eat them too ..... and Pecan Pie is a revelation!!!!!!!

Recipe: Shortcrust Pastry (I bought mine)

200g Caster Sugar

250ml Dark Corn Syrup (nothing else will do, buy it off the internet if you must)

A pinch of salt

3 medium eggs

60g Unsalted Butter

1/4 tsp of Vanilla Extract

100g chopped, shelled pecans.

Handful of whole pecans to decorate

Roll out pastry & place onto a 23cm pie dish. Press gently into the dish. Put in the fridge to get cold (this avoids shrinking in the oven).

Heat sugar, salt & corn syrup. Bring to the boil then leave to cool slightly. Like this:

In a medium bowl whisk the eggs until mixed. Pour the WARM syrup into the eggs stirring like your life depended on it (sweet scrambled egg? No thanks). Add the cubed butter & vanilla extract. Mix until melted.

Put the chopped pecans into the pastry, then pour the filling on top. It will look odd - all liquidy with floating nuts. Don't worry, just arrange some pecans nicely on the top.

Bake in a 170 c/gas 3-4/325 f for about an hour. Keep an eye on it & cover with foil if it browns too much. It will be wobbly when you get it out & may look like an earthquake just occurred on the top, again don't worry it will level off as it cools, just make sure it is brown with a slight crust to it. Like this:

My punters (Mam & the Boss) were happy & actually - can you ask for any more than that??!

Welcome to my Kitchen!

So, where is all the ... ahem ... magic taking place?? Allow me to show you ...

This is my kitchen. The larger oven door hangs off when you open it - for this reason I do all my baking in the small oven.

This is my lovely new pie dish I bought in the Laura Ashley sale. I really struggled to find a decent pie dish - guess people take it easy on pies these days.

Bruno and Peggy, my little kitchen monsters, always hoping to catch a falling crumb.

Bruno often sits next to the fridge and goes into a trance like state when he watches me cook, like this ...........

Ok, so I was warming up for my culinary journey ....

Yum ....... (the boss only got 1 cup whilst I got 2 - well it IS research!)

AND LOOK WHAT ARRIVED IN THE POST YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They arrived at work (thank you www.americansweets.co.uk), I kissed them when I took them out of the box - my colleagues now think I'm mental.

So there you have it, my humble abode which will see many, many american recipes in the coming months. I'll post pictures and recipes as I go along, hope you enjoy it as much as I will. I'm starting THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well hello!

This is a blog about my adventures into American cooking. I love American food, I mean who else has cake for breakfast?? I can pinpoint the moment I fell in love with American food. I was in New York with my college class and we were walking around Central Park on a gloriously hot day in March 2000. It was the second time I had been on a plane and was so happy I survived the journey so decided to celebrate by eating whatever I could find. We approached a hot dog stand and having already eaten a hotdog from a stand at the entrance to the park thought I'd try something different. I noticed a huge pretzel in a glass case. It intrigued me because in the UK pretzels are tiny, biscuity, incredibly salty and very dry. I took a chance and bought one. It was handed to me with a napkin wrapped around it and I could feel the warmth on my finger tips. As I looked at it I could see the rock salt scattered across it in a casual yet perfect way. I tilted my head not losing eye contact with the pretzel and bit. Immediately my teeth sank into warm doughyness with the rock salt acting like mini fireworks of flavour being set alight on my tongue. The outside was smooth and almost felt shiny but inside it was soft, fresh, bread, which had a slight chew. It was as comforting as a big hug from my large breasted Nanna. I stopped walking. I stood staring at this thing of wonder that had looked inconspicuous sitting innocently in it's glass case but was now giving me a knowing wink. I was hooked and ate one everyday for the remainder of the holiday. I have raved about these ever since but I've never considered making one. Some things are just sacred.

So now you know how I lost my American food virginity how about some less exciting facts about me? Well, I'm a Welsh woman living in Leicester with a beautiful but long suffering partner (aka the boss), 2 dogs (Bruno and Peggy) and a large (by British standards) kitchen. I must admit the kitchen and garden sold the house to us. 3 years later and we now realise how un-practical the kitchen is with no draining board, wooden worktops and oven door which is hanging off. The oven isn't level either so all of my cupcakes come out of the oven at an angle. But ever the optimist I think it gives my lovely little-big kitchen character.

My dogs love to watch me cook. Bruno sits there and almost enters a trance like state, his eyes slowly closing and opening, his head bobbing. Peggy is all about what she can get, occasionally I feel her head darting between my feet if she thinks I've dropped something (usually I have but don't tell the boss), she then proceeds to lick the entire floor just in case she's missed something.

I am a good cook. I wouldn't say I was a great cook just someone who likes to eat and I never get recipes right first time. I realised in my early 20's that as I like eating so much, I should learn to feed myself. So I did - very much trial and error. The boss could tell you a few stories about grey scones with the texture of brick and red pepper risotto that despite being cooked for 3 hours, was undercooked.

I grew up on a small terraced street in Taibach (it means 'little houses' in Welsh, I think). Mam was an ........................ enthusiastic cook but Dad had funny eating hours so my brother and I weren't about to wait til 9 o'clock at night for some grub. Luckily for us there was (and still is) a chippy at the top of FFrwdwyllt street (honestly that was the name of our street!) so we survived on rissole, chips and a can of Vimto almost exclusively.

I still don't know where I get my passion for cooking from but I've always been encouraged, from an early age, to be a good eater! So join me on my culinary discovery of the US of A! xx