Georgia Magazine - April 2017 - 40


TERRY MASSEY

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons crème fraîche, crema agria
or Salvadoran cream
Freshly ground white pepper, to taste
Minced parsley, to taste
Thin white bread (Pepperidge Farm makes
a thin sandwich bread) or crackers or a
vegetable tray, for dipping

Bob Beauchamp and Chris Hodges get
ready for the Derby Dash stick-pony race at
the Madison-Morgan Conservancy Derby
Day in Madison.

nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, cloves
and cayenne or ancho chili pepper.
Toss to coat evenly and sprinkle with
coarse sea salt. Toss again. Spread
out nuts over the surface of the pan.
Place pan in oven and roast nuts
for 1 hour, turning them after 30 minutes.
Remove pan from oven. Let pecans cool. Store in a lidded container.
Note: These do not need to be refrigerated. Makes 2 cups.
This simple cocktail sandwich
is most closely associated with the
Kentucky Derby. Some recipes advocate adding green food coloring, but
some prefer chopped parsley. Still
others add a drop or two of Benedictine liqueur. Early in the 20th century,
Louisville, Ky., caterer and cookbook
author Jennie Carter Benedict is credited with inventing the dish.
Easy to make and best if made
in advance, this may be used as a
spread to fill tea sandwiches or as a
dip with crackers or vegetables.

The Benedictine Sandwich
1 seedless cucumber, peeled, quartered
1/2 medium onion, peeled
1 teaspoon sea salt
40

Using a box grater or the grating blade of a food processor on
pulse, grate cucumber and onion.
Place mixture in a glass bowl. Sprinkle with sea salt. Toss and set aside.
After about 10-15 minutes, squeeze
the water from the cucumber-onion
mixture by the handful and drain,
placing the cucumber-onion mixture
in a separate bowl as you drain off
and discard the water.
With a fork, mix in the softened
cream cheese and crème fraîche, crema agria or Salvadoran cream. Taste
and adjust seasonings, and blend in
the minced parsley.
To make sandwiches, cut rounds
from thin bread with a cookie or biscuit cutter, being sure not to include
any crust. Spread 1 round with about
1 tablespoon Benedictine mixture
and top with another round of bread.
Continue making sandwiches until
mixture is all used. Cover the sandwiches with a damp tea towel so they
don't dry out, and refrigerate. Keep
cool and covered to transport. Or
simply serve the spread as a dip with
vegetables and/or crackers. Makes
about 1-1/2 cups filling, enough for
1-1/2 dozen (2-inch round) sandwiches.
Make this salad the day before
you want to use it. Dress it with the
citrus juices, then transport it chilled.
However, it remains good at room
temperature.
Some stores sell precut sweet
potatoes, a convenient shortcut, but
keep in mind that you'll need three
or four sweet potatoes to make 3
cups, depending on their size.
Tart apples, such as Honeycrisp,
work well in this recipe. Persian
cucumbers are small and not very
seedy. If using regular cucumbers,
peel and seed them.
More online at www.georgiamagazine.org

Curried Sweet Potato Salad
2 quarts water
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 cups cubed sweet potatoes (1/2- to 1-inch
cubes)
6 Kumato cherry tomatoes or other cherry
tomatoes, quartered
1 cup tart apple pieces, unpeeled (1/2- to
1-inch cubes)
1 Persian or European cucumber, unpeeled,
cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons diced red onion
2 tablespoons mixed red, green and yellow
peppers, diced
Dressing
1 sweet lime or regular lime
1 blood orange
1 Meyer lemon or regular lemon
2 tablespoons sorghum or molasses
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
Freshly ground sea salt, to taste
1/4 cup fresh minced cilantro, or to taste

Bring the water and sea salt to
a boil and drop in the sweet potato
cubes. Cook for about 10 minutes
(or less if the size is smaller), or until they barely yield to the point of
a knife. Note: You want them still
slightly al dente. Drain the pieces
and shock them in an ice water bath.
Drain and reserve sweet potatoes in
refrigerator.
When ready to make the salad,
place chilled sweet potato pieces in a
glass bowl and add tomatoes, apple,
cucumber, red onion and mixed bell
peppers.
Squeeze the lime, blood orange
and lemon in a small cup. Combine
sorghum or molasses, mustard, curry,
ginger, cayenne and sea salt to taste.
Whisk in the juices. Pour dressing
over veggies and toss. Cover and refrigerate. Add the minced cilantro just
before serving and toss again. Makes
6 cups.
To read about a Georgia chef
who's cooking at the Kentucky
Derby, see page 9. For more
Derby Day recipes, turn to
web exclusive pageweb
40Aexclusive
in this month's
digital edition at georgiamagazine.org.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - April 2017
