Try these recipes for garlic rolls, blackberry cobbler, fried corn, creamed spinach

Welcome to the Fare Exchange table, friends. One of you was looking for salt-rising bread, and more than one of you sent us to the nearest loaf, at Dutch Maid Bakery in Tracy City, Tennessee. One reporter, Don Kilo, brought home several loaves to share. His summary, "While tasty, I'm not getting a true salt-rising experience. Let me know what you think."

And Mr. K. did a little research before "hoping another reader has experimented with a successful homemade salt-rising bread loaf." He found that King Arthur Baking's website has a recipe, too long to print here, "for a classic American salt-rising bread adapted from Bernard Clayton. The more I read, the more I know why it's hard to find the taste you remember. Bread that rises on the strength of salt instead of yeast is 'notoriously unpredictable.'

"Still, I want to try to bake it if someone can give some help."

Here's a follow-up request from an earlier one, "for the lemonade served at Coolidge Park. Could this be Penny's lemonade that is served there? Does anyone have hints, even, for the secret of this or any other superior lemonade?

GARLIC ROLLS

Margaret McNeil's oft-consulted blog, margaretsmorsels.blogspot.com, recommended these rolls as better than garlic bread, and they are made with frozen roll dough.

Better Than Garlic Bread Pull-Apart Rolls

1 (1 pound 9-ounce) package frozen Parker House-style roll dough, thawed

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Thaw dough according to package directions. Melt butter; stir in the garlic powder and garlic salt. Dip each roll in the butter mixture, and place in a greased 10-inch round cake pan or 9- by 5-inch loaf pan. Put the pan in a warm place free from drafts, cover with a towel and let rise an hour. Bake the rolls at 350 degrees F for 30 to 45 minutes or until brown. (Check at 30 minutes.) Put the pan on a cooling rack, and let cool 10 minutes before removing bread.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

COBBLER FROM PIE

Philip Grant offered this recipe for blackberry cobbler, since Mrs. Smith seems to have quit making it. He reported, "This is actually a recipe for pie. We don't use a bottom crust."

Blackberry Cobbler

2/3 to 1 cup or more sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice or ½ teaspoon cinnamon (we add nutmeg, too, usually)

2 teaspoons quick-cooking tapioca (if fruit is juicy)

4 to 8 cups fresh berries, picked over and hulled

1 to 2 tablespoons butter

1 premade pie crust (we use Pillsbury's refrigerated crust in the red box; off-brands don't seem to taste quite the same)

Combine sugar, flour and lemon juice or spices, plus tapioca if needed. Sprinkle this mixture over the berries in an oven-proof dish, and stir gently until well blended. Let stand for 15 minutes, then heat oven to 450 degrees F. Once oven is heated, turn the fruit in the dish, and dot with butter. Cover with a well-pricked pie crust top or with a lattice. Bake in a 450-degree oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees, and bake 35 to 40 minutes more or until golden brown. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream added just as it goes to the table.

VINTAGE FRIED CORN

A.E. wandered through recent requests and decided to look for answers in her favorite cookbook, Celia Marks' "Come Into My Kitchen."

"I found an interesting recipe for 'fried' corn, which may not be the most accurate description. It comes well recommended. The other recipe is for spinach and fits the request for easy recipes. I recommend doubling it."

Mama's Southern Fried Corn

The following method probably violates every rule for cooking fresh corn, but this is the way Ms. Marks' mother-in-law and all deep Southerners prepared it, and the result is extraordinarily good.

6 ears sweet white corn

1/2 teaspoon salt

Dash pepper

Pinch sugar

Scant teaspoon flour

3/4 cup water

2 tablespoons fresh bacon drippings

2 tablespoons butter

Use a large, heavy skillet with tight-fitting cover. Shuck and clean about 6 ears of sweet white corn. With a sharp knife, slash down center of each row of kernels, then with a quick motion, cut kernels off cob into a large bowl, but do not cut all the way through to the cob on the first go-round. Go over the rows a second time, scraping the cob well. This yields valuable starchy liquid. Stir into bowl salt, pepper, sugar, flour and water. (These measurements are approximate, and you may experiment.) Stir mixture well. Heat equal amounts of fresh bacon drippings and butter in a skillet. When hot, add corn, allowing it to bubble madly and partially form a crust on the bottom. When these bits of brown appear, scrape them into the mixture and allow more to form, continuing to scrape and stir. Do not allow corn to cook dry; add small amounts of water as needed. And you will need it. After about 10 minutes of cooking and stirring and scraping, turn heat to low, cover and allow corn to cook at least 30 minutes longer. Check seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if desired. The corn should have crisp bits of browned crust all through it, but should have a creamy texture. It must not be gummy; it's better to add too much water than not enough.

CREAMED SPINACH

Easy Spinach Cream

1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach

1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese

Dash or two of garlic powder

Generous dash nutmeg

Optional garnish: Hard-boiled egg, chopped

Cook spinach according to package directions until just thawed and heated through (there should be no liquid left). Add cream cheese, garlic powder and nutmeg. Stir until cheese is melted; serve at once or keep warm. Garnish with chopped hard-boiled egg if desired. Makes 3 servings.

Next week, again? Let's.

REQUESTS

— Salt-rising bread elaboration

— Superior lemonade

TO REACH US

Fare Exchange is a longtime meeting place for people who love to cook and love to eat. We welcome both your recipes and your requests. Be sure to include precise instructions for every recipe you send, and know we cannot test the recipes printed here.

Mailing address: Jane Henegar, 913 Mount Olive Road, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750

E-mail: [email protected]