Cookbook Giveaway: Let Sara Moulton make dinner

I was looking around for an idea for an easy weeknight dinner the other night when I spotted a new book with the perfect title: "Sara Moulton's Everyday Family Dinners." Exactly what I needed: A slightly lighter (less butter filling, baked instead of fried) version of Chicken Kiev that was easy enough to do and still gave me a little time to sit on the patio with a glass of white wine before I got started.

In honor of Sara, let's give away a copy of the book. (I already tucked a copy of the Kiev in a safe place.) Respond in the comment section below (if you use the anonymous sign-in, give me a name I can use to recognize you) and we'll do a random drawing Friday. Remember to check back to see if you won.

While you're waiting for the drawing, here's the recipe:

Chicken Kiev Revisited

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/4 pounds)

4 tablespoons herb butter (see note)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 large eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup dry bread crumbs (I used panko-style crumbs)

2 tablespoons olive oil

Lemon wedges for garnish; optional

Place each chicken breast flat on a cutting board. Starting at the thick end, insert a knife tip in horizontally into the center of each to make a pocket about as dip as the middle joint of your index finger and a little bite wider. Fill each pocket with 1 tablespoons herb butter, pressing the opening closed. Season each breast with a little salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line up 3 bowls. Place the flour in one, whisk the eggs in the second and place the crumbs in the third. Place 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over high heat and let it start heating while you get the chicken ready.

Place each chicken breast first in flour, turning to coat both sides, then into beaten egg, then into crumbs. Place the coated breasts in the skillet. Reduce heat to medium and saute breasts for 3 minutes per side or until golden. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil when you turn them.

Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake breasts until they are just cooked through, 8 to 11 minutes depending on their size. Serve with lemon wedges.

Note: For the herb butter, I just mixed about 2 cloves minced garlic and about 1 tablespoon fresh chopped oregano from my garden. But you could use thyme, marjoram or a combination of pretty much any fresh herbs. Just let the butter soften at room temperature for a short time and mush it all together with a fork. You also could skip the herbs and just flavor the butter with a little garlic.

Y'all come: Taste of the Nation, CPCC Literary Festival

Two events in two days:

I'll be a judge tonight at the annual Taste of the Nation (yes, it is a rough job - thanks for your sympathy). If you're looking for a fun food event, this is a great way to spend an evening and raise money to fight childhood hunger. Tickets at the door are $60, or $85 for a VIP ticket that gets you to the food tables earlier. For the money, you get live music, beer, wine and spirits, an auction, and samples of food from a couple of dozen restaurants.

Thursday night should bring a lively discussion at Litfest 2010, part of the Sensoria Celebration of the Arts at Central Piedmont Community College. "Communicating Your Hunger" is a panel discussion at 7 p.m. in the Culinary Arts Building on the central campus. (That's the spiffy new brick building with the columns at the corner of 7th Street and South Kings Drive. There's free parking in the Employee Theater parking deck, or look for the signs.)

Amy Rogers of Novello Press, Charles Jenkins of WBT and I will talk about blogging and social media, trends in cookbooks and food writing, ethics of restaurant reviewing, and using food to explore family heritage. But it's a Q&A format, so I suspect the talk will be more free-ranging than that. Come and bring lots of questions. Tickets are free, and it starts at 6 p.m. with a reception. The panel discussion kicks off at 7 p.m.

Details: http://sensoria.cpcc.edu

James Beard Essential Baking Books: Sweet

With all the new cookbooks coming out all the time, sometimes it's worth pausing to celebrate the books that came out years ago but have became reliable friends in the kitchen.

This time, it's baking books. The James Beard Foundation's cookbook awards committee today released "The Baker's Dozen," 13 books that every baker ought to have.

First, let me make my involvement clear: This is my last year after a decade of serving on the committee that oversees the cookbook awards. I've been chair for the last three years, but I'll be stepping down after the James Beard Foundation awards in May. So understand that I not only suggested some of the books on this list, I also led the committee through putting the list together.

The other committee members: cookbook author and Portland food writer Martha Holmberg, Matt Sartwell of Kitchen Arts & Letters in New York, wine writer Tara Q. Thomas, NY food writer Irene Sax, cookbook authors Grace Young and Naomi Duguid, Chicago Tribune food editor Carol Haddix and cookbook store owner Ellen Rose of Los Angeles. And believe me when I say, that is mighty distinguished company. I've been humbled to work with them these last three years.

That said, I'll also admit that I learned a lot while we were putting together this list. I also helped put together the first Beard book list four years ago, "The Core Collection: 20 Essential Cookbooks," which was a list of general cookbooks. This time, we focused strictly on baking, both sweet and savory. Both times, I discovered books that I didn't know, and remembered books I had forgotten. This time, we dug back through several decades of development in baking books, and we took a close look at books that have just come out in the last year or so.

Here's my conclusion: Baking books are so personal, so passionate. They have to be dependable, because there are more chances for baking recipes to go astray. And they come to be loved because the things we make from them, the cakes and cookies and breads, are part of the best cooking we do. How better to show someone you love them than to bake them a cake, or to break bread together?

Here's the list, and here's a link to the full list and press release online: http://jamesbeard.org/index.php?q=james_beard_general_news

1. “Baking: From My Home to Yours,” by Dorie Greenspan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006).
2. “Beard on Bread,” by James Beard (originally published 1973; reprinted by Knopf, 1995).
3. “The Book of Great Desserts,” by Maida Heatter (Andrews McMeel, 1999).
4. “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice,” by Peter Reinhart (Ten Speed, 2001).
5. “The Cake Bible,” by Rose Levy Beranbaum (William Morrow, 1988).
6. “Classic Home Desserts,” by Richard Sax (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000).
7. “Cocolat,” by Alice Medrich (Warner Books, 1990).
8. “The Fannie Farmer Baking Book,” by Marion Cunningham (Gramercy, 1996).
9. “Great Pies and Tarts,” by Carole Walter (Clarkson Potter, 1998).
10. “The Italian Baker,” by Carol Field (William Morrow, 1985).
11. “Martha Stewart’s Cookies,” by Martha Stewart (Clarkson Potter, 2008).
12. “My Bread,” by Jim Lahey (W.W. Norton, 2009).
13. “The Simple Art of Perfect Baking,” by Flo Braker (Chronicle, 2003).

Behold: The barbecue sundae

I'm getting ready to take a week off for spring break. But before I go, I'll share one more food adventure. And this one isn't an April Fool's story.

While traveling around to bakeries the other day, I had a chance to stop for lunch at Outlaw Barbecue Shack in Matthews. Outlaw is a great little place, but it's hard to spot: It's tucked into the back of a building a block off North Trade Street, next to the U.S. Post Office on John Street. (If you know where the Matthews Community Farmers Market convenes, it's on the other side of the big field they use for parking.)

Outlaw has also opened a new restaurant on U.S. 74 in Monroe. That one is a full-size, sit-down restaurant and it's easier to spot: Look for the smoking pig cooker parked by the highway.

Outlaw's original spot in Matthews is take-out only, although there are picnic tables outside where you can perch.

Since I was on the road, I grabbed the Barbecue Sundae to go: A small plastic cup with baking beans on the bottom, topped with shredded pork and finished off with a layer of coleslaw. They also give you two little containers of barbecue sauce. But in true Carolina 'cue fashion, their softly cooked, lightly smoked pork doesn't really need it.

A cup is $5, and it makes a great lunch for eating in your car on the way to research cupcakes.

Cheers! And if you're on the road this week, I hope you find food half this fun.

Food trip: Bakery roundup

If you stand still long enough these days, somebody may pipe a swirl of frosting on your head. I seem to hear about a new bakery or new offerings at an old bakery almost every week. On Thursday, I hefted the GPS and a fork and hit the road to check out a few places.

Chip Nutty Cookies: Chip Nutty took a long time to come out of the oven. Owner Charles Rivers has been making 21 flavors of cookies that he sells at small stores, flea markets and special events. But he wanted to aim for bigger stores, like supermarkets, which meant he needed a bigger oven. So he opened a bakery at 5920 South Blvd., near Archdale. Fans of Mexican cookies may remember it as the old Panaderia La Mexicana building.

In addition to a rainbow of cookie flavors, including strawberry smoothie and king lime, they also have cinnamon buns with flavored toppings like strawberry (that's the strawberry, nicely rewarmed and served in a box with a fork), doughnuts and bags of small cookies. Cookies range from 99 cents for the little bags to $1.29 for a single big cookie.

I stopped by Jimmie's Sweets, 131 Matthews Station Street in Matthews, to check on one of my favorite local cookies, their caramel crunch cookies. They're holding up well: Still a crunchy cookie covered with that amazing solid caramel icing. Just checking.

Finally, I ended up in an unlikely spot at a country crossroads outside Monroe to check out Gimme A Cupcake. Take U.S. 74 to Morgan Mill Road, turn left and it's about 1/4 of mile down, at the intersection with Sutherland Road, in the building next to a lawnmower repair shop.

Gimme hasn't been open long, but it already has passionate fans. One caller was so enthusiastic, I was afraid she was going to try to squeeze a peanut butter and jelly cupcake right through the holes on my phone. I see her point, though: It's a sweet little sweet shop, with a rotating list of flavors that changes by the day.

I got a half-dozen for around $10 and tried Italian Creme, that PB&J, Grandma's Lemon Icebox, Red Velvet, Piano (chocolate cake with vanilla icing) and Razzle Dazzle Raspberry. Verdict: Good, moist cake with very fluffy, very tall buttercream icings. Check out the daily list at http://www.gimmeacupcakenc.com/.

Remember: Tuesday is Maple-N-Bacon day. Give me a call -- I'd be willing to try that "cupcake through the phone" trick.

'Pioneer' cookbook giveaway: It's yee-haw time

Happy Friday, Barbara 6:37 -- AKA ricettebarbare. The competition was fierce for a copy of Ree Drummond's popular cookbook. But you're the winner.

Email me at kpurvis@charlotteobserver.com with your snail-mail address and I'll get the book moving your way faster than a cattle drive.

And for the other 40 fans who entered, a big thank you. It was fun to see that Drummond has just as big a following as I thought she did. Her appearance at Joseph-Beth Booksellers on May 7 ought to be a stampede.

Stallings gets an Italian market

Enzo LoRe had the silly idea he was going into semi-retirement when he and his family moved down from New York. Wife Josephine (that's her, with the pretty smile) had a different idea.

They opened an Italian meat shop in Stallings, outside Matthews, three months ago and now they're both working hard.

Small world: Both Josephine and Enzo were born in Sicily, but they met in New York. She moved here at age 5, he moved here when he was 11 or 12.

Even smaller world: When Enzo had a meat shop in New York, one of the distributors he worked with was Tony Stafford, who now owns Ferrucci's, the popular Italian market in Cornelius.

They moved south because Josephine wanted a place that was warmer and had a slower pace of life. She's been startled by both winter and the Charlotte pace. ("They lied!")

OK, so to the food: Some Italian products and pastries (cannoli, of course) but mostly a long case full of braciole, skirt steak, housemade Italian sausages in a half-dozen or so flavors, prepared dishes like the "Parms" -- eggplant and chicken -- lasagnes and more. When I stopped by Thursday, the wonderful smell turned out to be rice balls being fried up in the back.

Between Enzo's, Ferrucci's, Pasta & Provisions and Derados, another new market in Cornelius, our Italian shopping list is getting filled.

Enzo's is at 4420 Potter Road. The number is 704-684-0478. (If you're coming from Matthews, take East John Street past Trade and go about 2.5 miles, past I-485. Turn right on Potter Road and they're in the shopping center on the right.)