Marinated Red Onions

I'm cooking my way through How to Cook Like a Southerner and Live to Tell the Tale! Next up: Marinated Red Onions.

Marinated Red Onions

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp fresh chopped tarragon or 1 tsp dried
1/4 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup red onions
1/2 lb red onions, peeled and sliced

Mix the first four ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk in the oil and pour over the sliced onions. Refrigerate overnight.

Courtney says she keeps these in the fridge to garnish salads or cooked peas or beans. I think it would be great on sandwiches and hamburgers too...or right out of the jar.

I used it in this Asiago Bruschetta Roasted Asparagus tonight and it was yummy! (I did not use the basil because there is so much tarragon in with the onions - and I also just used a bit of the oil and vinegar from the marinated red onions in the bruschetta blend.)

Blackberry Vinegar

In my Re-Collected Recipes blog, I share handwritten and clipped recipes I find in the old community cookbooks I love to collect, but the latest cookbook I'm reading, How to Eat Like a Southerner and Live to Tell the Tale, is only from the early 90s, so I'm not sure it qualifies as re-collected quite yet.

This book was purchased by someone named Barbara at Everyday Gourmet on April 14, 1993, at 9:03 p.m. (I know this because she left the receipt in the book.) It looks like it was a late-night book signing.

I can't find much about what happened to Courtney Parker after this book. She worked for Lee Bailey shops in Saks Fifth Avenue stores creating food gift items. She had a catering business in Natchez called Party Animals, where she was also a cooking instructor and a freelance writer.

Craig Claiborne has a story in The New York Times in 1987 about her making "an oyster-and-rice dressing and a rich, melt-in-your-mouth pecan tart" for Thanksgiving at Lee Bailey's mama's house. She also researched and created recipes for his Lee Bailey's Southern Food and Plantation Houses. (And Lee wrote the foreword for her cookbook.)

I will be sharing several recipes from the cookbook, but the first one that intrigued me was her blackberry vinegar.

Blackberry Vinegar

Fill a one-quart bottle with about 1 pound of whole fresh blackberries. Pour in distilled white vinegar to cover and seal. Store in a dark place for 2 to 3 weeks before using. When you run out of vinegar, refill the bottle with vinegar and let it sit again. The same berries can be used up to three times.

Mine is sitting right now, and she has this recipe to use when it's done...

Cauliflower in Basil Berry Marinade

1/3 cup blackberry vinegar

1/3 cup canola oil

2 tbsp fresh chopped basil leaves

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

l large head cauliflower, separated into florets

Whisk together the first 5 ingredients and pour over the cauliflower. Place in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight.

Everything's coming up blackberries

My husband loves blackberries. So for Father's Day (and for his father on Father's Day), I spent some time finding some new blackberry recipes to try. And I so hit the jackpot!

This Blackberry Lemon Custard Ice Cream is from the June issue of Family Circle. What I love about it is that it creates that ice cream custard texture without standing over a hot stove in the summertime and stirring eggs! (But you do have to plan ahead as I would definitely recommend cooling overnight. The texture was much thicker by the morning.) My grocery store did not have lemon curd this time, so I just used the lemon pie filling available in the readymade piecrust section.

Blackberry Lemon Custard Ice Cream

2 cups half-and-half
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup jarred lemon curd
1/2 cup granulated sugar
6 oz fresh blackberries

Combine first 4 ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer to a container. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Transfer mixture to an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions. Coarsely chop blackberries and fold into ice cream to create a swirl effect.

Place ice cream in a container. Cover and freeze at least 3 hours or up to 1 week.

Nutrition Information
Servings Per Recipe: 8 PER SERVING: 440 cal., 24 g total fat 54 g carb. (53 g sugars), 5 g pro.

We have been experimenting a lot with brie lately, as my son is fascinated with all things France. We have tried all kinds of toppings, but this one from Lemon Tree Dwelling is definitely my favorite so far.

Baked Brie with Wine-Soaked Blackberries

1 (8 oz.) round brie in wooden box
6 oz. fresh blackberries
½ c. Pinot Noir
2 tsp. sugar
1 baguette, sliced

Dissolve sugar in Pinot Noir. Add fresh blackberries and allow to sit at least 30 minutes (the more time, the better!)

Cut top rind off of brie and return the cheese to its box. Bake on a flat baking sheet at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Spoon blackberries onto baked brie. Drizzle wine as desired.

Serve with baguette slices.