June 22, 2009: Blue Moon Cornbreads, Roasted Pork Loin, and Carroty Apply Goodness

Nice moments from this week:
> The arrival of an unexpected cold bottle of champagne, and the way so many people said, taking a glass to share a small sip, "I never turn down champagne."
> The way one of the shorter Supperians reached for the bite-sized muffins labeled "Carroty Apply Goodness" and said to me, "I love these."
> Seeing newcomers each week, and seeing others who come often; enjoying new connections and reconnections.

Foods we enjoyed:

• Carroty Apply Goodness (of course)
• Watermelon Soup with garnishes (goat cheese, fresh mint)
• (The famous) Beets, Apples, Celery, Red Onion, Marinated in Garlic & Ginger w/dusting of curry
• Roasted Pork Loin
• Pesto Cilantro & Noodles (No Nuts)
• Whole-wheat pasta with tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, etc.
• Beans w/vinaigrette
• Bread Salad - Italian
• Blue Moon Cornbread w/Stone Cross Bacon; garlic, shallots, leeks, and Kenny's Swiss & Cheddar
• Blue Moon Cornbread vegetarian: garlic, shallots, leeks, and Kenny's Swiss & Cheddar
• Lemon Cornmeal Poundcake, from Cornbread Gospels

June 15: Green Chili Cornbread, Curried Beet-Apple Salad, Mint Brownies

Cheers erupted when the beautiful blue bowl of beet salad arrived. The beet salad has already established a fan group. The June 15 beet salad, however, packed considerable surprise: apples, celery, and .... drum roll .... a stunning curry vinaigrette.

We had 19 quality Supperians this week - the smallest group ever, including, as always, some people attending a Supper for the first time. The conversations, the tastes of all the foods, and the pace, and possibly the high ratio of bottles of wine to humans, all gave the evening a special character.

Cornbreads for the night included a green chili onion cottage cheese Parmesan casserole and some overly soft lemon blueberry cornmeal muffins. Other foods included slow-cooked black beans with Elmwood kale, a noodle dish, and an array of salads.

Lovely mint-flavored brownies with a light icing, and a large bowl of beautiful crunchy-fresh grapes finished the meal and delighted adults and children alike.

June 8: Waffle Time!

I don't know whether the recipe is perfected yet - but the savory thyme/scallion/cayenne cornmeal waffles dished out crunchy and piping hot this week were fantastic. Thank you, Chef Jennifer!

Other delicious foods included a salad of leaf-shaped pasta in shades of gold, green, and peach -- "pasta with lots of garlic, and garlic pesto (KY Proud); corn, onion, carrots sauteéd in butter; bean salad with feta, etc.,; a brilliant fruit salad; Mississippi Mud Pie ("made with an organic mind"); a beautiful cole slaw with oil and vinegar; Campsie green salad with lemon Dijon vinaigrette, and a main dish cornbread casserole that included Kentucky beef, five cheeses, garlic scapes, Elmwood Stock Farm eggs, Kentucky buttermilk, Stone Cross Farm bacon fat, butter, and Weisenberger white corn meal.

June 1: "These flavors work together." And a bonus: Ripe mulberries...

For the June 1 Cornbread Supper, the Polenta with Garlicky Greens turned out to be my favorite corn recipe so far. I also liked the cornmeal dessert -- Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Lemon Glaze and Crushed Blueberry Sauce -- but it was not my favorite of the many cornmeal desserts we have tried.

One Cornmeal Supperian brought a peanut noodle dish that quickly emptied. She generously wrote afterwards, sharing the URL for the online recipe from 101 Cookbooks: Lazy Day Peanut Noodle Salad. (I managed to get a quick pic just before the end of this tasty thing - see the large bowl on the right in the photo below.

The flavors of all the dishes "worked well together," one person said, and other nodded agreement - there was some synergy of flavors going on.

Other dishes from our June-is-busting out meal, as described on the small food labels cooks prepared and left behind:

• Homemade local pasteurized cottage cheese with chives
• Chocolate-oatmeal no bakes. Contains peanut butter
• Salad with grapefruit, etc. (No meat products)
• Blackberry Cobbler. Yummy.
• Lentil salad with veggies, walnuts, and feta
• Cajun Black Beans & Rice w/local deer meat (shot by Steve @ a farm in Lawrenceburg KY); SPICEY
• Pickled Beans (may be spicy)
• Vegetarian Wheatberry Curry Salad
• Spiced Curried Chickpeas with Homemade Paneer Cheese

Plus, I might say, a lovely bounty of wines.

One more gift from our Peanut Noodle Salad cook: Here is the recipe for the popular rice pudding she brought to an earlier supper: Rice Pudding "Gonzo" from Gourmet/Epicurious.com.

During the meal, some people visited the London Ferrell Community Garden about three minutes from the Cornbread Supper site, and some of us had fun eating mulberries from a tree in the Old Episcopal Burying Ground, one minute away.

Next week, June 8: Savory Cornbread Waffles, made on the spot! Gifted Eat Well At Home blogger, photographer, chef and restaurateur Jennifer Burchett says....Get Ready for Your Waffles - and we say, "Bring 'em on."