Culture

I’m a big fan of FoodWishes.com. Every one of Chef John’s recipes that we’ve tried has turned out perfectly, and that is not something I can say about any of the current celebrity chefs. I’ve always wanted to have a typical ‘Southern’ meal, which to me, having been influenced by pop TV, equals fried chicken, cornbread, and sweet potato pie.

I have never been to the southern American states and have no idea whether any of this is actually ‘southern’, but regardless, this week’s theme is (loosely) Southern food. 
Naturally we turned to our favourite authority on American food, and found a great buttermilk fried chicken recipe (http://bit.ly/19jlj3). The chicken turned out beautifully with a nice crispy coating and juicy, tasty flesh. It pays to invest in a proper thermometer to get the temperature of the oil right, but it’s not critical so long as you make sure the oil is very hot before frying. We also made some corn bread (http://bit.ly/9U8iYk), which was pretty good and really easy to make, and blanched green beans, for the full southern experience. All in all, it was a delicious meal. 
On a separate occasion, I had an insane craving for lemon bars after watching an episode of Las Vegas where the chef made lemon bars. I had never tasted them before but I knew I had to have them, so I found the easiest recipe online and … got D. and S. to make them. Even though they were not exactly like I imagined they would be (I thought they would be more custardy) they were still very good – a soft, sweet, satisfying, lemony filling with a nice chewy crust. This recipe is a keeper.
 
Lemon Bars (http://bit.ly/16gMkF)
 
INGREDIENTS
250g sifted all-purpose flour
120g icing sugar
225g butter, melted
4 eggs
400g white sugar
3g baking powder
30g all-purpose flour
150ml lemon juice 
 
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 175?C. Grease a 9x13-inch pan. In a medium bowl, stir together two cups of flour and the icing sugar. Blend in the melted butter. Press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Combine the sugar, baking powder, and 1/4 cup of flour so there will be no flour lumps. Stir the sugar mixture into the eggs. Finally, stir in the lemon juice. Pour over the prepared crust and return to the oven. Bake for an additional 30 minutes or until bars are set. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.