This coming Friday, my friend Filip who hosted me at a Trek convention in the Czech Republic, is coming to dinner. I can still taste the pretzel bread he made sure to find me as well as dumplings in every shape and flavor you can imagine. Nothing better than doughy goodness. He did such a good job of introducing me to local cooking that I want to do the same for him. With days in New York, I know he can cover alot of foodie ground, but southern skewed fare is a bit more challenging to find.  When I know I'm having guests, the first thing I do is take out my recipe collection( in a huge binder I can barely lift anymore) and see what catches my eye.  With southern in mind, I came up with this menu: 

                                          Cheese Cream Crackers
                                          Blue Stuffed Olives

                                          All Day Baby Back Ribs
                                          Grits Casserole
                                          Lemony Chopped Raw Kale Salad


                                           Caramel Apple Pie


The cracker recipe is one I got out of the New York Times years ago, and I believe its a Mark Bittman recipe.The one change I made was to use a very sharp white cheddar instead of parmesan but they are incredibly tasty either way. They are so easy and I will give you my way of rolling out dough in case it helps! Very impressive with a glass of wine.


                                     Cheddar Cheese Cream Crackers

1 cup flour

1/2 cup grated extra sharp cheddar

4 tablespoons butter, cut up

1/4 cup heavy cream


Heat oven to 400 degrees

Pulse the flour cheese butter and salt in a Cuisinart ( you can do this by hand ,too. Using your fingertips, lightly work the flour cheese and butter into a sandy mixture. ) Add cream and pulse till mixed.

Put out a long strip of wax paper the size of your cookie sheet and throw the dough on top. Form it into a rectangle  smaller than the wax paper , and put a matching wax sheet on top. Roll the dough as thin as you can between the papers, checking to make sure you have an even thickness. Now, peel off the top piece of wax paper and replace it with the same size of tin foil, lightly sprayed with Pam For Baking. Put the sprayed side on top of the dough, and flip it onto the cookie sheet, gently using your hand and forearm to support the bottom. Now the wax paper is on top, and you can simply peel it off.Cut them with a pizza wheel or just a knife. You can put what you like on top, but I put salt and a dried garlic and  red pepper mix. Bake them about 10 minutes, but be sure to leave them longer if they aren't a satisfying brown. It really makes the taste!

xxxNana